There are people in this world that see food as merely a fuel for the body. I don’t trust them. For me, food is more than simple sustenance. It's my life. It is celebration, comfort, love, exploration, sharing – simply everything. My relationship with food is a tumultuous one, and because of this relationship, I found every word of Frank Bruni’s Born Round intriguing.
A fellow Italian–American that spent the better part of his life binging his way through meals, Bruni's immigrant Grandmother would say: “You love Grandma’s food? Then you love Grandma!” In this memoir of sorts, Bruni starts with the unexpected phone call he receives while stationed as a reporter in Rome. He is called to return to the United States and accept the infamous post as the New York Times restaurant critic. A colleague asks, “ Are you sure you can handle this?” and Bruni contemplates this with a lengthy flashback that encompasses most of the book.
Throughout Born Round, Bruni documents his struggles with fad diets, grueling exercise regimes and bulimia, trying to find the balance between his love of food and its negative effect on his figure; how his ever-changing waistline affected his career, his relationships and his self-worth. His insecurity kept him from friends, pushing people away until he had a few weeks to become thinner, then a few more weeks when he failed to follow his strict eating rules. Eventually, his friend's attempts to spend time with him stopped. Food kept him from really living life. The story reflects on how he looked for a solution everywhere but within.
Although the subject matter is not a light one, he peppers his memories with lighthearted tales of family feasts and wilderness adventures. The book follows Bruni's aging and growth in size, and it created an attachment to him. I wanted him to succeed in finding a balance. I worried about his decision to take a job devoted to eating rich foods seven nights a week. He drops culinary names like he drops pounds during his food critic years, and it is fun to see the lengths to which culinary luminaries such as Thomas Keller work to please a man that used to squirrel away in an apartment and eat an entire takeout pizza.
If food is just food, you will not enjoy Bruni’s decent into a caloric-filled addiction and ultimate redemption. But if food is life, enjoy his cautionary tale – and skip the extra helping. See Paganini's special recipe on page two...
