The Bialy Eaters: The Story of a Bread and a Lost World

From Strand Bookstore

Armed with a dozen fresh-preserved bialys, the author set off to the Polish town of Bialystok to explore the history of the chewy, crusty roll with the toasted onion center. There, she found the remnant of aHolocaust-decimated Jewish population: five Jews who knew what a bialy was. And thus began Mimi Sheraton's worldwide search to rescue this lost culture in the stories of surviving, scattered Bialystokers. 192p.

From the Publisher

The acclaimed restaurant critic and food authority journeys to the Polish town of Bialystok to uncover the history of the staple Jewish bread, the bialy, only to find a region devastated by ethnic cleansing and the Holocaust, and embarks on a worldwide search for the scattered inhabitants of the town in order to chronicle the story of a once-vibrant culture and its cuisine.

Review

Paula Friedman - New York Times Book Review
"Sheraton compares the place of the bialy in her research to the madeleine in Proust's works, the important similarity being one of nostalgia."

More about the book

Famed food writer Mimi Sheraton writes about her search for the ultimate bialy and its history. In the Polish town of Bialystok, she finds only the shattered remnants of a vibrant Jewish culture. Going on to Israel, Paris, and the Lower East Side of New York, among other places, she perseveres, trying to recreate the lost world of a Polish town--and of a bread that gains in importance as she searches and, in the end, finds what she sought. This memoir provides a slice of cooking history that celebrates not only a fascinating food but the people behind it.