Amtrak bagels

The Crescent came in at 11.18 pm, which meant the dining car was closed, but the snack bar was open. I tried the bagel. Amtrak bagels come in a vacuum wrapping. The whole thing is heated in a microwave, along with the cream cheese which comes inside a sort of plastic ravioli. The heating turns the bagel into rubber and the cream cheese into sour milk. They put it in a cardboard box with a plastic knife and a serviette, and when you've eaten it you have to sit quite still for an hour, like a cormorant after swallowing a salmon, and let the thing dissolve inside you.

From American Journeys by Don Watson