a brittle, glazed-and-salted cracker of German or Alsatian origin. Made from a rope of dough typically fashioned into the shape of a loose knot, the pretzel is briefly boiled and then glazed with egg, salted, and baked. Pretzels are customarily eaten as a snack with beer.

In many large cities the soft pretzel is a familiar commodity sold hot, often with mustard, from the pushcarts of street vendors. Dry, nut-brown hard pretzels in a variety of configurations, including thick and thin knots, sticks, and nuggets, are commercially packaged in the United States and elsewhere and marketed on a wide scale.