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New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon at Zabar's. (Gothamist / YouTube.)
It was the New York Democratic premiere of an October surprise: Gubernatorial challenger Cynthia Nixon revealed that she was going to be a hit, a capers and red onion on cinnamon grape bagels.
The news was broken by the recently revived digital outlet Gothamist, which captured Nixon's order on camera during a Sunday appearance at Zabar's, the legendary deli on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The five-minute video shows Nixon contemplating an array of possible bagel options before settling on cinnamon grapes. Meanwhile, the packaged shopper, unaware of the unfolding scandal in their midst.
Behind the smoked seafood counter, a man in a white chef's jacket at Nixon through his glasses. "Now, I have tomato and I have onion and I have capers," he says, with some uncertainty.
"That's what I want," Nixon assures him.
"A full load?" He asks.
"A full load," she confirmed. "And cream cheese."
Gothamist published the damning footage on monday afternoon, Nixon found herself swarmed by reporters in Grand Central Terminal. Shoving microphones in her face, they asked to know: Why was she putting smoked fish on a cereal-flavored bagel?
Nixon doubled down.
"That's my go-to brunch, breakfast, whether I'm out or I'm home," she said. "I mean, it's not uncooked oatmeal. But it's pretty delicious. And I say, do not yuck my yum. Do not knock it until you've tried it. "
Reasonable minds can disagree. The rapidly unfolding controversy resulted in a slump of enterprising young reporters heading to their neighborhood and asking for cinnamon grape bagel with lox, capers, red onions, tomatoes, and cream cheese. Gothamist's staff deemed the combination "disgusting" and "pungent." At Jezebel, writers found it "weird" and "unpleasant."
Soon, condemnation was pouring in from the distant provinces of Philadelphia and Washington, where the bagels were subpar and could not be voted for. In a stern edict that reached the Hudson River, NJ.com's Jeremy Schneider declared that Nixon had "committed an unforgivable crime against the bagel gods."
Meanwhile, George Conway, the respected conservative lawyer who is also the husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, offert did an attempt "Lox her up?"
As references to #Bagelgate Nixon's campaign adviser, Rebecca Katz, jumped to the candidate's defense.
"Cynthia Nixon is going to be one of those people who are not in the same place, or even those who are unpopular," wrote.
The online cycle of reactions, and reactions to the reactions, followed by predictable pattern. First was the semi-ironic performative outrage from people appalled by Nixon's unconventional taste in bagel toppings.
Next came the contrarian takes from people arguing that Nixon's bagel order was fine, actually.
Then, the inevitable backlash that the fact that the debate was even happening, and questioned whether the vote on Nixon's eating clothes was rooted in sexism.
Finally, all things inevitably do, it ended with a fundraising appeal. Please take a moment to think of the plight of the staffer with cinnamon-raisin-and-lox sandwiches, as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo continues to outrage and outspend the upstart challenger's campaign.
By late Monday night, Cuomo, dont bagel preferences are unknown.
In the conservative media, Nixon's breakfast was widely reviled. "Cynthia Nixon's bagel is horrifying," read a headline in the New York Post, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The Daily Caller went on to a new step, declaring, "Cynthia Nixon has the most repulsive bagel order of all time." Conservative commentator Evan Siegfried, perhaps alluding to Nixon's celebrity status and significant personal wealth, wrote on Twitter, "Another way in which Nixon is out of touch."
Left-leaning outlets were more charitable. Slate jokingly offered six possible explanations, ranging from "This was a stress order" to "Nixon is subtly positioning itself to a maverick who supports women's choices." New York Magazine order was "troubling," but called for a ban on politicians eating food in public, rather than individual sanctions.
As writer Chris Crowley pointed out, Nixon now belongs to a long line of politicians whose attempts to eat eminently normal foods are somehow end up making them look like a relatable human being. In previous election cycles, Ohio Gov. John Kasich was mocked for eating New York Mayor Bill of Blasio, who has claimed the habit in his "ancestral homeland" of Italy.
Are these micro-controversies a distraction from the real issues of a campaign? Probably. But there's an argument to be made that anybody who shows them they really "get" an area of regional foods that they understand the community's distinct cultural identity.
"Knowing your base is important," wrote NJ.com's Schneider. "And in New York, that means knowing your bagels."
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