Bagel and cream cheese

The basic bagel with cream cheese serves as the base for other items such as the "lox and schmear", a staple of delicatessens in the New York City area and across the U.S.

[2][3][4][5] In New York City circa 1900, a popular combination consisted of a bagel topped with lox, cream cheese, capers, tomato, and red onion.

[7] In the early 1950s, Kraft Foods launched an "aggressive advertising campaign" that depicted Philadelphia-brand cream cheese with bagels.

[12] A high amount of salt in the fish necessitated the addition of bread and cheese to offset the lox's saltiness.

[12] It was reported by U.S. newspapers in the early 1940s that bagels and lox were sold by delicatessens in New York City as a "Sunday morning treat", and in the early 1950s, bagels and cream cheese combination were very popular in the United States, having permeated American culture.

It has been recorded by several different artists, including Eddie "Rochester" Anderson[24] and, more recently, Rob Schneider,[25] Joan Jaffe,[26] and Oleg Frish.