Dina Bursztyn and the God of Toast
March 13th, 2007 by Menachem Wecker
Dina Bursztyn is showing “Two very unusual toasts” at her Open Studio, opening on March 10, 1 - 9 p.m., in conjuction with Catskill Strolls. Here’s the story:
This is How it Started…….
One morning at home, after placing a pita bread inside the toaster oven, I read in the newspaper that the Virgin Mary appeared on someone’s grilled cheese sandwich, and Jesus himself in a frying pan. I laughed so hard and for so long that I forgot all about my pita in the toaster, and when I checked it, I was utterly smitten: there it was, the face of a woman, looking directly into my eyes, from the pita bread. She didn’t look like the Virgin at all, neither like any other member of any divine family I know of. Curious, I sent my burnt toast to be examined by a team of experts, who after many tests and x-rays came up with an unanimous verdict: it was the portrait of the woman who invented bread.
Many of my friends wanted me to sell it on E-bay to make a chunk of change, but I refused. Instead, I placed it in a temperature-controlled box for safekeeping. Thereafter, I got in the habit every morning of toasting two pieces of bread, one for eating, and the other to act as a photographic plate to catch a glimpse of our past human history. And to my surprise, after several months, another face appeared on one of the toasts, this time it was the likeness of the older sister (of the woman who invented bread) who, while playing with fire, invented toast.
In addition, Potato Spirit Emergency Press, will release “Toast Revelations”, an 8-page digitally printed book with color photos, for $5.00, limited supply of signed copies available.