Bagel Bites
McGill University’s bagel-making workshop, by the numbers

FROM SCRATCH: McGill University connected with alumni and friends through a virtual bagel-making workshop.
ADVANCE WORK:
McGill University in Canada convened alumni and friends in 2021 around a treasured, iconic local treat: Montreal-style bagels.
On its March #McGill24 giving day, the university’s Executive Chef Oliver de Volpi led an online workshop on how to make bagels topped to perfection with lox. Some knead-to-know numbers about the event:
279
attendees joined the workshop, which won a 2022 Circle of Excellence Award for online events.
8
ingredients comprise de Volpi’s Montreal bagel recipe: warm water, flour, yeast, egg, salt, maple syrup, oil, and poppy or sesame seeds.
1.5
minutes is how long Montreal bagels spend poaching in a bath of honey (or maple syrup and honey) plus water. This sweet bath is what makes Montreal bagels different from New York-style bagels.
75%
of all the eggs McGill’s dining services uses per year come from its on-campus farm. While the bagels baked, de Volpi shared information about the farm and campus sustainability initiatives—which alumni could opt to support.
About the author(s)
Meredith Barnett
Meredith Barnett is the Managing Editor at CASE.
Tags
Article appears in:

May - June 2023
Cooking Up Connections: How food hits the spot when it comes to engaging donors, alumni, and campus communities. Plus how to make the case for unrestricted gifts, use maturity models to spark transformation, untangle gifts with strings, and more.