Be Careful: This Unexpected Food Leads To Quite A Few Kitchen Knife Accidents

We've made a list of the best bagel shops in America, but the beauty of these morning mainstays is that they are also easy to prepare at home. Will you pile your bagel high with lox and capers, or give it a healthy schmear of nut butter to up the protein? But there's a hidden danger to bagels (and especially stale bagels) that few people stop to consider until it affects them. It sounds a little bit ridiculous, but bagel-related knife injuries are serious business: according to the Wall Street Journal in 2009, every year some 2,000 Americans injure themselves so badly while cutting bagels that they need medical attention. Bagel accidents are often reported to be a leading cause of kitchen mishaps overall.

Here, there doesn't seem to be a distinction between Philadelphia-style bagels made with beer or those that you buy in bags off the supermarket shelf. The real culprit is a bagel that's frozen or, most perilously, slightly stale. Trying to slice a bagel that's not perfectly soft can quickly go awry due to its round shape and the fact that, too often, people use the wrong technique for cutting. A very sharp knife is necessary, of course (do you know how often to sharpen kitchen knives?), and a serrated model works best. Always cut away from your body, and, for the love of poppy seeds, do not try to cut a bagel you are holding in your hand! Too much blood has been shed on what should be a delicious breakfast nosh, thanks to deep slices and cuts on fingers and hands from bagel-cutting accidents.

When you ask the internet how to slice bagels safely and ensure a delicious specimen, you'll find that the web has a lot of big feelings about the topic — and a lot of lost souls searching for answers. "How do you slice your bagels?" one Redditor asked. "I fell victim to a blueberry bagel last year, 6 stitches later, I refuse to fall victim again." The answers were numerous, but most agreed that slicing the bagel horizontally was the way to go. "How to cut a bagel and not wind up in the emergency room!" one Facebook user crowed, posting a picture of a bagel being cut with a splayed hand holding it in place — fingers and thumb safely out of the way.

We've also seen variations on this method in which the bagel is cut halfway while flat, then flipped over to cut downwards from a vertical position. Your dexterity and knife skills will play a huge role, of course. Celebrity chef Ina Garten reportedly likes her bagel sandwiches cut in horizontal thirds. Most of us don't have Garten's prowess with a knife, so we'll continue to exercise caution, especially when our bagels are not exactly the freshest. 

Remember that a sawing cut is better than trying to slice. Notably, we've heard good things about reviving a stale bagel with a damp napkin in the microwave for just a few seconds to restore softness before attempting any cutting. We hate food waste and don't want to bin slightly stale bagels that will taste just fine once toasted, but we'll be be wary of these bready rounds fighting back.