The Bialy Eaters

by Mimi Sheraton

The legendary food writer tells the poignant, personal story of her worldwide search for a Polish town’s lost culture and the daily bread that sustained it.

A passion for bialys, those chewy crusty rolls with the toasted onion center, drew Mimi Sheraton to the Polish town of Bialystock to explore the history of this Jewish staple. Carefully wrapping, drying, and packing a dozen American bialys to ward off translation problems, she set off from New York in search of the people who invented this marvelous bread. Instead, she found a place of utter desolation, where turn of the century massacres, followed by the Holocaust, had reduced the number of Jewish residents there from fifty thousand to five.
Sheraton became a woman with a mission, traveling to Israel, Paris, Austin, Phoenix, Buenos Aires, and New York’s Lower East Side to rescue the stories of the scattered Bialystokers. In a bittersweet mix of humor and pathos, she tells of their once vibrant culture and its cuisine, reviving the exiled memories of those who escaped to the corners of the earth with only their recollections, and one very important recipe, to cherish.
Like Proust’s madeleine, The Bialy Eaters transports readers to a lost world through its bakers’ most beloved, and humble, offering. A meaningful gift for any Jewish holiday, this tribute to the human spirit will also have as broad appeal as the bialy itself, delighting everyone who celebrates the astonishing endurance of the simplest traditions.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, History, Jewish, Poland, Holocaust, Culinary

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

In 1975 she became the food critic for the New York Times. She held that position for 8 years after which she became the food critic for Time magazine.

She freelanced for New York Times, Vanity Fair, Food and Wine, and other magazines.

Reviews

[Mary Etta · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the beginning reading "Bialy Eaters" by Mimi Sheraton seemed tedious with covering everything historical of bialys. Coming to the middle of the 150 page book as I pedaled at the gym, reading the rich recall of the joys of eating bialys in the youth of a few particular Eastern Europeans, I succumbed. Fortunately Salt Lake City has what I'm trusting are really good bialys at The Bagel Project, 800 S 500 E.

Eating my first bialy, I got it. The pleasure of eating the kuchen got better on my way home. I couldn't help recalling one person's preference for the inner edge and her brother’s preference for the softer outer edge as I savored my first ever bialy. Hours later the flavor of the just right center of onions sprinkled with poppy seed lingers on. So satisfying and memorable. Mimi Sheraton missed The Bagel Project in Salt Lake City. No matter. Its here and some am I.

I enjoyed reading on through the recollections of bialy lovers from Bielsko-Biała, Poland to Paris, New York and other U.S. cities and ultimately to Argentina and Australia. Sheraton gathered anecdotal bialy stories most often connected to Jews dispersed around the globe underscoring the connections we have with foods and our memories of life. She retells these stories in engaging ways after introducing those who had known bialys in the old country of their youth. I really enjoyed these reminiscences of people scattered over the globe having the commonality of their culture and the bialy which had sustained them in multiple ways.

[Patrick Cauldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely light reading, but a fascinating subject. Ms. Sheraton is obviously interested in the subject and is obviously adept at interviewing people. The fact that such a ubiquitous food in its native land (the Bialystoker kuchen, or bialy) has completely disappeared from its birthplace in half a century is a little frightening but makes for great reading.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book is a little disingenuous. There is very little (hi)story of "a bread and a lost world;" the story is mostly about Sheraton finding people with whom to speak about bialys (and I couldn't help but find it strange that everyone she spoke to was rich and successful - no commoners here). I, for one, was looking for much more history about Bialystok and its cuisine. Still, the little bit that is here is interesting, and I appreciate that Sheraton includes an "authentic" recipe at the end (though it seems far too complex to attempt in my limited kitchen). Indeed, I like that Sheraton seeks authenticity, though I think she is a bit harsh/insulting to those who kindly spoke to her and provided her with samples when she condemns those samples as inferior and not worthwhile (granted, it's not that I wouldn't agree with her assessment, I just would be kinder about it). I guess, overall, there's a snotty and elitist tone about the book that I could do without, which is ironic given the humble origins of the subject matter.

[Eric Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grew up with bialys in New York City. Places that sold bagels sold bialys. When you got bored of bagels, you had a bialy. But fast forward several decades, and I can barely remember them. They were never popular outside of New York, and though a quintessentially Jewish food, they were nowhere to be found in Israel. Eventually, I started making my own. And when I read about Mimi Sheraton’s book — knowing that she was the New York Times’ food writer, my expectations were high. But I was disappointed. This book is less about the bialys than it is about Mimi Sheraton’s “journey”. Though the book was researched and written at a time when the Internet was taking off, it is very Old School about research. She finds out someone’s name and tries to phone them and then someone answers in a foreign language, and of course she doesn’t speak any of the languages essential for this book (Yiddish, Polish, Hebrew, etc). She describes in some detail getting the address of someone who might know something, and knocking on the door and finding out that it is not the right address. This was starting to feel like a book that desperately wanted to be a magazine article. The book ends with a bialy recipe that goes on for pages and pages. The one I use is a couple of paragraphs long. Oh, and Mimi Sheraton learned from some Esperanto speakers in Israel (because Bialystok is the birthplace of both the bialy and the international language Esperanto) what the word for bialy is in that language. “Kuko”, she was told. And even that was wrong — kuko is Esperanto for “cake”, any cake at all.

[Ken Kugler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Bialy Eaters, The Story of a Bread and a Lost World, by Mimi Sheraton, is a good book. That said, it is also the obsessive search by a Bialy addict. This is the story of Mimi, a food writer who used her trips for magazines and newspapers to tract down people from the Polish town of Bialystok. Those that she is able to find tell her pretty much the same story of how much it was a part of the areas life. People would wait in lines to get the freshest bialy and eat them all day long. They, like Mimi, had thier favorite bakers in Bialystok and in New York City.
This is a short book and yet it took longer to read because of the repetitiveness told by different people and pretty much saying the same thing.
By the way, I did go out and buy creamed cheese and a bialy.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly a book for food nerds. I enjoyed learning about the history of the bialy though at times it was a little long on details about the tasty kuchen.

[Virginia Kessen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book on several levels. Both the story of the writer's obsession, a glimpse into a way of life lost to the Holocaust and an account of what we all lose when we let such atrocities happen. That makes it sound like a heavy book but it's a delightful read as well as a painful one.

[Kelli Bullington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read on Bialys

Good book with personal accounts on Bialys and what it means to them growing up during the holocaust. The recipe is good too!

[Steve Mayer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much more than I wanted to know about bialys. If only she had written about bagels.

[Wendy Dembo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe a bit too much information on bialys. But still interesting.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

surprisingly captivating and i read it just about in one sitting. the anecdotes have great story power and they really ground the bialys in narratives into the pasts of aging members of the jewish diaspora. i also like the author's frankness and the times where you can tell her fervor for the kuchen had led her on this journey that took quite awhile to complete. (you can see how she fits this interest into her professional life-- only able to visit places because she is sent there and thus has to stretch out the development of the book over a period of time.)

sometimes sheraton uses her own personal analogies/imagery that seem a bit incongruous. they certain bring to light sheraton's own quirkiness and personality (comparing a picture of a couple to something about circles under the egyptian mummy eyes or something to that end and i distinctly remember another time about hebrew writing looking like the footprints of birds walking through ink)

she has a very specific view of what a bialy should look like. and throws around the idea of an authentic bialy with no qualms, not stopping to think what authenticity means to different people. she does mention that everyone likes (or should like) what they grew up with, but she is very brisk (and perhaps careless?) with words and ideas i would consider very charged with meaning.

in other words, i very much enjoyed reading the narration of her accounts with different people and their experiences growing up and eating bialy. personally, i would have liked more introspection and interjection from the author (and not just about how the taste of a particular bialy of a bakery she is visiting fit into her worldview of how a bialy should taste). perhaps more analysis and more cohesive exploration of the links between loss, holocaust, and the bialy. perhaps if she would elucidate more on the sense of home or security or identity, it would be so much stronger and more compelling.

i had a feeling she was writing this book for her. it was a very personal project. in that way, she directed as she saw fit, enough to tell the stories, but left open to analysis in terms of underlying meaning of it all. by collecting the stories and ending with the letter about the destruction of bialystok as the destruction of the bialy culture in the area, i think she brings to the surface many rich tales and much information. i would have loved to hear more about what she took from it. how the destruction of bialystok and the disappearance of the bialy from the lives of the residences there-- what does it signify? is it a metaphor for the loss of heritage? if the repasts were remembered in the heads and hearts of the people, how does this nostalgia speak about their lives now? how do people recreate their childhood or experiences of great innocence through these meals (especially in the midst of such tragic and devastating events to people so dear to them)? there seems like there's something there that can be really explored and picked through, if only she spent some more time really thinking about it all.

but i think that's beyond the scope of what she's interested in. she told the stories, recorded them and weaved together a fine book. i also very much liked how she opened the book coming to bialystok already pessimistic... the awful weather and the lack of bialy-rememberers. the whole scene was grey and somewhat tragic and i feel that represents the great sense of loss that the holocaust brought about perhaps not just in bialystok, but in much of poland. and there is a lot of underlying tension between survivors and their ideas of the polish. a lot of acrimony that could be aired out and better diffused and explored, as well (within the context of the bialy).

if the stories were not so rich and if sheraton were not so personable, i would say this deserves three rather than four stars. but b/c the tales were so compelling, i have to give it a four. there's just so much robustness and such a sense of nostalgia and devastation in the tales.

all in all. i was quite satisfied. now i just have to make my way to kossar's. perhaps the best thing about this was that it will undoubtedly lead me on a food pilgrimage to the lower east side of manhattan.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accomplished food and travel writer Mimi Sheraton published this book 18 years ago. It is a touching and often fascinating look at a nearly-vanished world. Bialys were made by a multitude of Jewish bakers in Bialystok, Poland before WWII. When nearly all of the Jews of Bialystok were murdered in the Holocaust, most aspects of their culture also died, except for the few survivors who dispersed to places as far-flung as Argentina, Australia, Israel, France and, of course, New York.

While this is the story of a unique food item, it is more the story of the people who baked and ate bialys, and how that food tied them together in the memory of a shared experience.

One of the survivors Sheraton interviewed was Samuel Pisar, who wrote an acclaimed account of his experiences. His book, Of Blood and Hope, is next on my reading list. One book leads to another.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

For once, I actually wanted to hear less about the food. Basically Sheraton chased bialys around the world only to dismiss every modern iteration as inauthentic. My mouth is not exactly watering. If Sheraton had just gotten out of her own way and used the bread as a starting point to explore the amazing stories of the Bialystok diaspora, she would have had something. The oral history she captures here is lovely... but instead of being showcased, it's just a sidenote to the quest for Ye Olde Bialy. The book centers on repetitive field notes and rants about inferior modern ovens, missing poppy seeds, and the ever declining tastes of kids these days.

Instead of an uplifting story of food as the hope that springs eternal for a long suffering people, we get a dirge. The book closes with this poignant letter from a Holocaust survivor, "In June 1941 the Nazis came to us and since then there are no more bialystoker kuchen and no more kuchen bakeries and no more of our Bialystoker Jews."

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bialy or more officially, Bialystoker kuchen. Made with only four ingredients: high-gluten flour, salt, ice water, and bakers' yeast. About 4 inches in diameter with a well in the middle (preferably made with a special rolling pin designed for this purpose), topped with chopped white sweet onions mixed with crumbs of hard-but-not-stale bialys and sprinkled with poppy seeds. Preferably baked until dark brown and crispy, NEVER put in a toaster, and seldom sliced. If you're spreading something on it (butter or cream cheese), spread it on the bottom and DON'T lose even one poppy seed!

Not only a good bialy primer, but a very brief, though feeling look at a time in history that evoked initial feelings of warmth, home and family and then tragic memories of brutality, devastation and loss.

[Gretchen Lorhammer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the different stories of the Bialystokers and the book did succeed in making me now want to taste whatever version of a bialy I can get my hands on or perhaps try making them sometime.

However, I did not like how the book was written. I believe the author is a probably a very good travel writer - summing up experiences with smart language and personal impressions. However, this style does not seem to translate well to a book. The way it was written, the main "character" was the author, not the bialy. I didn't find her to be a compelling enough character to carry the history, and the book lacked cohesion.

I do recommend it though because the story of the bialy and the different personal histories are interesting in and of themselves, despite the author. The author's goal appeared to be to increase interest in the bialy, so I say, mission accomplished.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Accomplished food and travel writer Mimi Sheraton published this book 18 years ago. It is a touching and often fascinating look at a nearly-vanished world. Bialys were made by a multitude of Jewish bakers in Bialystok, Poland before WWII. When nearly all of the Jews of Bialystok were murdered in the Holocaust, most aspects of their culture also died, except for the few survivors who dispersed to places as far-flung as Argentina, Australia, Israel, France and, of course, New York.

While this is the story of a unique food item, it is more the story of the people who baked and ate bialys, and how that food tied them together in the memory of a shared experience.

One of the survivors Sheraton interviewed was Samuel Pisar, who wrote an acclaimed account of his experiences. His book, Of Blood and Hope, is next on my reading list. One book leads to another.

[Kitty · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author clearly felt a need to mention everyone she ever interviewed, whether or not they has anything to say except "you just can't get 'em any more."

They history of the diaspora of the citizens of Bialystok is random and spotty. And the bread just doesn't exist any more.

I tried for 2 days and I just can't do it any more.

Some of the stuff I read is the literary equivalent of a cream horn. All fluff, no substance, but fun. This thing is a soda cracker with no peanut butter.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting to learn the fragments of the history of bialys and just fascinating how food ties a culture together. i want to try making a batch of bialys. the recipe at the end is very detailed, but having it in more standard recipe format wouldn't be such a bad thing. i was very engaged in the subject matter but sheraton's writing and style were not gripping.

[gini · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was definitely a labor of love. The weaving of the bakers, the stories, the history leave you wanting a perfectly toasted bialy with a pat of creamy butter melting in the center. I was fortunate to grow up eating these in the Chicago area, although I wonder would they hold muster to the originals - my quest to find good ones in Texas now begins.

[Jonas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving it 3 stars, because I didn't finish it. I ended up giving it to my aunt, thinking she might like it more. But, while reading, I learned a lot about something I knew nothing about.

I guess I just don't care that much about the subject matter - but it is fascinating stuff!

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like bagels. I love bialys. Mimi Sheraton explains why.

[Adina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of the bialy and the search for the perfect bialy. A fun book for foodies.