Loving to eat, I mean REALLY loving to eat is slowly coming back into vogue thanks to renewed interest in Julia Child and several foodie blogs and yet there’s always a frisson of the forbidden. Think about “food porn” and those marginally talented but uniformly busty TV chefs who tongue strawberries in soft focus and moan for the cameras. It’s a dirty little secret that’s not such a secret.
It’s no wonder then, that Dominique Browning called Frank Bruni’s –the outgoing New York Times’ restaurant critic– memoir Born Round brave.
“I hold him in even greater estimation, not only for his discernment and his accomplished prose but for his bravery. “Born Round” is a book about growing up with a love of food, family and friendship. And it is, more important, a book about a lifelong struggle, one that drives an endearing, heartfelt narrative. “Born Round” is about being fat.”
[…]
“His mother worried about his weight, but any diet she imposed was stymied not only by her need to feed everyone, but by Grandma. The problem was simple: food was love. “You love Grandma’s frits? . . . Then you love your Grandma!””
[…]
“Still, he always carried at least an extra 10 pounds. “Once a fat kid, always a fat kid, never moving through the world in . . . carefree fashion.” By the time he attended college, he had become adept at deploying a panoply of weight-loss tricks, from popping amphetamines and laxatives to forcing himself to vomit.”
read the rest of the article here and, if you’re as intrigued as I am –I think Bruni and I might have the same grandma– you can purchase the book by clicking the image below.
Because she’s everybodys Grandma. My grandmother was the same – food was love. When I did something good, I got chocolate, cake, cookies. Food was comfort, solace, you love your food, you love your grandma. And you had to it eat up – I guess this is a specific thing of the European war-generations. You don’t waste food, you have to eat everything on the table, even and especially if you’re already full.
My parents-in-law are still that way, both are overweight, yet they have to keep eating , they fear the food getting wasted if they don’t.
Even though they know since roughly sixty years, yes, there is going to be food tomorrow, too.
Comment by Cara — August 28, 2009 @ 7:06 am
If you haven’t already, read the excerpt from last month’s magazine: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19bruni-t.html
I was really impressed with his honesty about his eating disorder.
Comment by Lex — August 28, 2009 @ 1:36 pm
Talking about loving food and loving to eat, brought to mind a trailer I saw this morning for the upcoming “Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs” animated movie. Pancakes, ice cream and steak rain down from the sky on kids and adults in an orgy of deliciousness. Ironically, when the food showers get dangerous and start crushing everything in sight, fruits and vegetables are the culprits. A little subversive nod that I like!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEyjj-L5Mv8&NR=1
Comment by emmme — August 30, 2009 @ 10:14 pm