Life, Death & Bialys: A Father/Son Baking Story

by Dylan Schaffer

When Dylan Schaffer's father, Flip, asked him to take an intensive bread making class at a fancy culinary school in New York, the idea seemed considerably less than half-baked. Dylan hadn't seen much of his father-not since he left Dylan and his siblings in the care of their crazy mother thirty years before. Neither knew the first thing about making bread. And Flip's cancer was expected to kill him long before the class was set to begin. But Flip made it. The pair spent seven days at the French Culinary Institute becoming artisanal bakers and seven tumultuous nights in a shabby Bowery hotel getting to know each other. As moving as it is irreverent, Life, Death & Bialys is about how an imperfect father said goodbye to his son and to his city and how a reluctant son discovered the essence of forgiveness.

Genres: Food Writing, Culinary

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2006

Reviews

[Reese · Rating 4 out of 5]

reading up on my family history 🤘

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a child, Schaffer's father left him and his siblings in the care of his emotionally unstable mother. Over 20 years later, his father is diagnosed with cancer, and asks Schaffer to travel to NY to take a baking class with him. Schaffer agrees, and the result is this often humorous memoir which outlines his attempt to deal with hating the dying father he can't help but love. Schaffer must decide if he can forgive his father, even when his father never actually asks for his forgiveness. I thought his book truly captured the frustration of being abandoned by a parent, and coming to terms with the fact that you can still have a need to love someone who you have tried for so many years to stop caring about. Ultimately, Schaffer realizes that he has to make his choices for himself - that he will have to live with himself once his father has passed on - and I found his way of coping very comforting and real. Schaffer has also published two crime thrillers which I look forward to reading.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dylan Schaffer's father, Flip, asked him to join him in N.Y.C. to take an artisinal bread baking class at the French Culinary Institute. Dylan doesn't really want to go but he knows that Flip is dying and this is a "last request" kind of invitation. This is a nice "crusty" twist on a traditional memoir and we get to watch the father/son conflicts be wrestled with along with the dough.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't going to read this book at first, because it was about a father/son relationship, but the baking element won me over. I found it endearing, a little contrived, but I forgave it. I must make the bialy recipe found at the end!

[Zelda · Rating 3 out of 5]

sweet sentimental read about how the author reconcilies with his dying father while taking a baking class in NY

[Margaret]

first learned of on 25 july 2011 while looking up the bialy eaters. shame on you vancouver public library and UBC for not having this book. someday i'll get it. looks like it'll be a good read.

[Cc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A son and father take a baking class in NYC and comes to terms with their life together and apart. And there's lots of bread!

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a memoir, not so much about food as the title suggests, but about the challenging relationship between father and son. Well-done.