In St. Louis, Bagels Are Sliced Like Loaves Of Bread

Rather than cutting bagels in half horizontally, folks in St. Louis, Missouri slice their bagels vertically like a loaf of bread. It's a method that's caused lots of controversy.

This method is great for large crowds and children. It makes it so the cream cheese and other toppings don't squirt out from the sides and gives you more slices per bagel.

There are also endless ways to get creative with St. Louis-style bagels. Giving you more surface area, you can sample multiple toppings all on one bagel.

Panera Bread, which is headquartered in St. Louis, seems to be the first place to start cutting bagels this way, but when and why it began remains murky.