The Uyghurs Have the Bagel

There are a lot of western foods I've been missing in Alaer. I though Changzhou didn't have much western food but comparatively it was like living in New York City. I think the only truly western food I've seen so far are Oreos, and by the way it might be a good time to buy Kraft stock since they have amazing market penetration. In fact one of the hardest things I've had to get used to is basically eating only Chinese food. So I was amazed one day to see a Uyghur lady selling what looked for all the world like sesame bagels. Now of all the things I could possibly have seen people eat I think this was easily the least likely. I would have been less surprised to a Dominoes pizza here then a bagel since even in Shanghai you can't get a bagel. It turns out that what I saw is called a Girden Nan and is basically a proto-bagel. No one is sure if it developed independently of the bagel or if it was actually the origin of the bagel which took the silk road to Eastern Europe. It even tastes mostly like a bagel. It's a little tougher than a bagel should be so it tastes like a good bagel that's a day or two old. Not stale but not exactly fresh either. It also has a few other weird differences. The bottom is flat and a little hard from I think the container it was made in. Also the hole in the middle doesn't quite go all the way through. What's really driving me nuts though is the lack of butter. I don't expect to find cream cheese but some butter shouldn't be out of the question. So far though no one has been able to locate any, though the fact that people know what it is bares well. Still I can't help feeling a little like Tantalus, so close but so far.