It’s already common knowledge that Montreal-style bagels are out of this world. But did you know that a Montreal bagel has literally been out of this world?
Do you know how astronauts say space smells like a seared steak? Well, for a few minutes in 2008, parts of space tasted like wood fire-baked bagels.
(Okay, how about one more?)
Forget the rings of Saturn. How about rings of Fairmount Bagels?
In 2008, Greg Chamitoff, a Montreal-born American engineer and astronaut, took off into space as part of NASA’s Expedition 17 — the 17th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS).
Fairmount Bagel
According to Fairmount Bagel, Chamitoff is the nephew of the shop’s owner and couldn’t risk going on a six-month space mission without bagels.
So, he brought 18 of them with him to space: three bags of sesame bagels. Chamitoff, joined by six other astronauts, experimented with the bagels and left them floating inside the ISS, unpackaged, for six days before eating them.
There are some history-making photos of the whole thing.
May 2008 (Fairmount Bagel)
May 2008 (Fairmount Bagel)
Fairmount Bagel can accurately claim to be the best bagel in Montreal, arguably the best in Canada and the world, and since 2008, maybe even the best in the universe.
Here’s hoping one of Montreal’s most famous bagel shops can consider expanding to Mars when the time comes.
Chamitoff is the Lawrence Hargrave Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Sydney in Australia.
He spent 198 days in space, and Montreal-style bagels spent six days in space.