“Give me a dozen, my life’s blood—without bagels, what is a day!”

If you feel this way about bagels, you’ll love this throwback clip, unearthed by the Brooklyn Public Library, which has this to say about it:

Filmed in Brooklyn, this shows the process of handmade bagels. From creating the dough to the baking and sale, the process is explained along with the extemporaneous commentary on the changing nature of the bagel business, and the shops place in the neighborhood. Filmed in 1979 by Nick Manning, this is part of the 16mm film collection at the Brooklyn Public Library’s local history division, the Brooklyn Collection.

As a piece of old New York nostalgia, it’s well worth the seven minutes—particularly for excellent quotes like, “These people in the Midwest, they wouldn’t know a bagel from a donut. Only reason they ever saw a bagel is because it fell off the back of a truck. Four professors were dissecting it before they found out what it was all about!” At very least skip to 5:54 to see the best bagel order OF ALL TIME. Seriously.

Of course, this great peek into history is tinged with sadness given the sad state of the New York bagel today.

[via The Awesomer]