Abstract: A bagel slicer comprising a food holder having a receptacle for holding a bagel, and a blade holder with a blade, a handle and a pair of blade guarding walls. The food holder has a base and a pair of spaced vertical receptacle walls extending upwardly from the base forming a pair of opposed vertical slots. The blade holder has a handle, a pair of spaced transparent blade guarding walls surrounding and guided along the vertical walls of the food holder, and a blade having a pair of serrated cutting edges intersecting one another. The blade is arranged and dimensioned to ride in the vertical slots and to traverse the central part of the receptacle when the handle is vertically actuated to slice the food article. The bagel is held by a cradle which has blade protection lips to guard the blade cutting edge at the lower travel limit.