Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater

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Overview

Frank Bruni was born round. Round as in stout, chubby, and hungry, always and endlessly hungry. He grew up in a big, loud Italian family in White Plains, New York, where meals were epic, outsize affairs. At those meals, he demonstrated one of his foremost qualifications for his future career: an epic, outsize love of food. But Bruni’s relationship with eating was tricky, and his difficulties with managing it began early.

When Bruni was named the restaurant critic for The New York Times in 2004, he knew enough to be nervous. The restaurant critic at the Times performs one of the most closely watched tasks in the epicurean universe; a bumpy ride was ...
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More About This Book

Overview

Frank Bruni was born round. Round as in stout, chubby, and hungry, always and endlessly hungry. He grew up in a big, loud Italian family in White Plains, New York, where meals were epic, outsize affairs. At those meals, he demonstrated one of his foremost qualifications for his future career: an epic, outsize love of food. But Bruni’s relationship with eating was tricky, and his difficulties with managing it began early.

When Bruni was named the restaurant critic for The New York Times in 2004, he knew enough to be nervous. The restaurant critic at the Times performs one of the most closely watched tasks in the epicurean universe; a bumpy ride was certain, especially for someone who had never written about food, someone who for years had been busy writing about politics, presidential campaigns, and the pope. What qualified him to be one of the most loved and hated tastemakers in the New York food world? Did his decades-long love affair with food suffice?

Food was his friend and enemy both, something he craved but feared, and his new-job jitters focused primarily on whether he’d finally made some sense of that relationship. In this coveted job, he’d face down his enemy at meal after indulgent meal. As his grandmother often put it, "Born round, you don’t die square." Would he fall back into his old habits or could he establish a truce with the food on his plate?

Born Round traces the highly unusual path Bruni traveled to become a restaurant critic; it is the captivating account of an unpredictable journalistic ride from an intern’s desk at Newsweek to a dream job at The New York Times, as well as the brutally honest story of Bruni’s lifelong, often painful, struggle with food. Born Round will speak to any hungry hedonist who has ever had to rein in an appetite to avoid letting out a waistband and will delight anyone interested in matters of family, matters of the heart, and the big role food plays in them.
  • Born Round
    Born Round

Editorial Reviews

Dominique Browning
Bruni's prose is as robust as his story; he clearly enjoys writing as much as eating. He is also, at times, very funny. But the best thing about Born Round is that it is so embarrassingly, inspiringly honest. For a guy who has spent much of his life too mortified to take off his coat, this is one laid-bare story…His book does what a memoir should: it entertains and edifies, voicing pain that otherwise many endure in loneliness. It promises to give comfort to souls feeling confused or betrayed by their bodies. Such staggering generosity: Born Round is like the Italian dinners Bruni loves—served up noisy, fun, heaping and delicious. Bruni's readers, at least, are lucky he was born round.
—The New York Times Book Review
More Reviews (2) Fewer Reviews
From The Critics
Bruni's unflinchingly honest look at himself as someone whose demons were always pushing or withholding food…Even the darkest periods are leavened by Bruni's black humor, which recalls that of Augusten Burroughs…or perhaps David Sedaris
—The Washington Post
The Barnes & Noble Review
There are two kinds of people in the world. Not cat and dog people, not chocolate and vanilla. There are, I'd propose, people who will read Frank Bruni's autobiography -- in particular, the scene where he's scarfing precooked Tyson chicken breasts, one-handed, in his car while driving home from the grocery store and think, Oh, ew...and then there are people, my people, who will read it and think, Well, duh. That stuff smells good! And when you're hungry, you're hungry!

My people know what it's like to watch a sibling push a half-full plate away and wonder, How do they do that? Don't they see there's more? We're the ones who've been on every diet, endured every form of exercise, and can tell you, at a glance, the calorie count and/or Weight Watchers point value of every morsel you could put in your mouth.

Bruni, the departing food critic for The New York Times, is one of us. He was born with an obdurate, ineluctable appetite, a voice inside that eternally cried, More, more, more and never once whispered, Enough.

The good news first: His memoir, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater, pulls off the impressive feat of being both mouthwatering and heartbreaking. There are drool-worthy descriptions of the meals young Frank enjoyed: his mother's lasagna, his grandmother's "frits": balls of fried dough with mozzarella and tomato sauce at their center, "like miniature thick-crust pizzas turned inside out, or rather outside in, only better, so much better, than any pizza could be."

And, of course, there are the consequences: the love handles that Bruni disguised with a "shapeless, floppy, pale green Army-issue Winderbreaker," the author photo that he had digitally stretched to suggest slimness, the desperate measures, from a flirtation with bulimia to a stint on Mexican speed, that Bruni employed to keep the excess pounds away; the boys he wouldn't date or wouldn't sleep with because he didn't want to be seen shirtless.

It says a lot about the shame of being fat in America that, for Bruni, coming out of the closet proves less painful than hanging pants with a 40-inch waist inside of it. It's revealing, too, to see the author lavish more description on the meals -- as opposed to the men -- that he's loved. Bruni shucks partners like peel-and-eat shrimp shells while making his way ever upward, on the scale and toward the Times...but maybe that's not surprising. Boyfriends come and go; Ben & Jerry's is forever. And, as Bruni admits, his "life-defining relationship, after all, wasn't with a parent, a sibling, a teacher, a mate. It was with my stomach." (Mom places a distant second.)

The book's final section finds Bruni relatively happy, having mastered, mostly, the art of portion control and vigorous exercise. It offers a procedural on weight management if your job involves eating most of your meals at the best restaurants in the world (taste, don't finish), details about the mechanics of being a critic (fake names always, costumes on occasion), and the frisson of a few boldface names (who knew Sarah Jessica Parker had such problems with parsley?).

My only problem with Born Round isn't Bruni's fault, but it's worth mentioning that his book will get more than its fair portion of attention.

Part of this has to do with Bruni's job, more of it, with his gender. A woman with a painful relationship with food and her own body is a classic dog-bites-man story, where a guy willing to lament his jiggly chest and widening waistline, or describe how he cried in a country club basement after his brother called him fat, is a little more man-bites-dog.

There is also the double standard that still applies to memoirs. Where a man is deemed brave for revealing his flaws and insecurities, a woman telling similar stories can depend on being called whiny, neurotic, or just plain nuts.

Instead of serving Born Round as a one-dish supper, I'd put Bruni's book on the buffet with Valerie Frankel's Thin Is the New Happy, Betsy Lerner's Foot and Loathing: A Lament, and Judith Moore's excoriating Fat Girl: A True Story. There are plenty of painful, funny, revealing books about appetite and its consequences out there, books that shouldn't be ignored simply because their authors were born round -- and born female. --Jennifer Weiner

Jennifer Weiner is the author of the bestselling novels Good in Bed, In Her Shoes, Goodnight Nobody, Certain Girls, and (most recently) Best Friends Forever. She contributes to numerous magazines and blogs at jenniferweiner.blogspot.com.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781594202315
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Publication date: 8/20/2009
  • Pages: 368
  • Product dimensions: 6.40 (w) x 9.40 (h) x 1.50 (d)

Meet the Author

Frank Bruni
Frank Bruni

Frank Bruni, a reporter in the Washington bureau of the New York Times, now writes full-time for the Times Sunday magazine. For his previous work on other subjects, he was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing and a winner of the Polk Award for Metropolitan Reporting. He has appeared on ABC-TV's Nightline and other programs to talk about the Bush campaign and presidency.

Customer Reviews
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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 12, 2010

    Exceptional Memoir--and Cautionary Tale

    I read Frank Bruni's memoir while recovering from triple bypass heart surgery, so the lovingly detailed descriptions of Italian family feasts struck me as more of a cautionary tale than it might most readers. Given the lengths Bruni went to embrace fad diets and his denial about even checking the scales, it wasn't a surprise that he avoided doctors' medical advice. "Born Round" is nevertheless a pleasure to read; Bruni's struggles with his weight are universal even if his own career path has been unique. Bruni has had an exceptionally varied career as a journalist, and if you only know him for his restaurant reviews, you're in for a pleasant surprise. His struggles to adhere to diet and exercise follow him as he covers George W. Bush's first campaign for President as well as his years covering Detroit and the Vatican. By the book's ending, I wish he had reflected more on our Western society's obsession on body image and the media's role in forming that, but he does summarize well the lessons he's learned as he enters middle age. "Born Round" is a welcome memoir. Recommended.

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  • Posted September 5, 2010

    Buyer beware...

    First off, a really well written and nice little book.
    Unfortunately when I purchased it I anticipated insight in what it was like to be a food critic at the NYT where the difference of one star could make or break a chef and or a restaurant. Living in 'The Big Apple.' Stories about the food industry, restaurants, wonderful or terrible meals.
    Instead, three quarters of the book is devoted to his eating disorder and coming to terms with his sexuality and family. Sadly, much of that is self indulgent and repetative. A guy can only read so much about the vomiting, the laxatives, the size 36 pants vs the size 42 pants, the running, the excersise, etc.
    His writing about his early family life... growing up in an Italian culture where food is king is marvelous. (I couldn't eat enough sausage and peppers when reading about his youth. Not to mention more than a few cannoli.)
    Again, a good book and the fault is my own for not understanding more before my purchase. Sort of like ordering the veal saltimbocca and having a plate of James Beard's meatloaf and mashed potatoes set before you. Still really good, but not what you had your stomach set for.

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  • Posted June 26, 2010

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    I Also Recommend:

    Not Just Born Round but Born Talented. . .

    I'm a huge memoir fan and so glad I got a chance to pick up Frank Bruni's Born Round. The writer bares his soul and you can't help but want to be there for him. Moments when he gave in to over-indulgence, I really wanted to jump into the book and give him a kick in the pants and drag him to the gym. In the end, it was his own determination that got him back on track to being healthier.
    I've been following F Bruni on twitter even before I read this book, just to get a feel for what he's like nowadays. He's an interesting twitterer. He'll be doing readings and Q/A in New York early July-2010. I'll be there to see him in person. . .

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  • Posted March 17, 2010

    The Dangers of the Clean Plate Club!

    Mr. Bruni's tale of connection inter-related connection with food, family and love is a charming and, at times, poignant read. Particularly touching is his relationship with his mother, who at times abetted his eating and at others encouraged restraint. The irony of Mr. Bruni's appointment as restaurant critic of the New York Times is not lost anyone, particularly Mr. Bruni himself. Bruni writes in a clear and accessible fashion. Mr. Bruni's ability to engage in healthy relationships directly derives from his ability to love himself and his relationship with food. I recommend this to anyone who battled with mothers, food and the Clean Plate Club in their youth!

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  • Posted February 8, 2010

    Delicious

    I have gotten to know the intimate soul of the artist. I feel that I can address him by Frank. Frank does a wonderful job of humorously telling his life story and his loving participation with his family and food. Frank has insecurities regarding his weight and does a brillant subtle job of telling a story that sadly is the story of many. In the end he has managed to be the master of his desires; knowing that negativity about his physical shell is the real task he will have a lifetime journey with. Frank, you tell the story of many and you tell it well!

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  • Posted November 16, 2009

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    An uninspiring read

    By a cursory glance at the title, and glancing at the inside cover, I purchased the book looking for a character I can empathize with, being raised in a family environment where food was doled out as a pain salve, and being stigmatized by being overweight for the majority of my childhood. In reality, it focused on the manifestations as to how one reacts to food, rather than a sympathetic character being saddled with being overweight his entire life. The author was born in a loving family, with all the privileges of an upper middle class lifestyle, and in fact was an accomplished athlete in high school and writer in his adult life. If you purchase the book with the expectations of obtaining an intimate look at the struggles of being an overweight child, and the impact of that stigma as you enter adult hood, not sure if this specific read will offer you that insight.

    Despite the title being a bit misleading, and the subject uninspiring, Mr. Bruni is a talented and entertaining author, and would reocmmend the purchase for anyone who has suffered through the angst of food.

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  • Posted November 13, 2009

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    Left me craving for more

    Is it wrong to enjoy reading how one man has struggled and was tortured his whole life because of his weight? One has to admire Frank Bruni's bitter honesty recounting all the ways he has attempted to lose weight or maintain his weight since he was a baby. I think that everyone in some way, shape or form, can relate to his ordeals, whether it was to shed some baby fat, the freshman 15 in college, or dieting before a wedding. However, the irony in Bruni's life is that when he finally found a regime that was healthy and successful in getting to his goal pants size, he becomes a food critic who is required to dine out for almost every meal of the week! It is a truly inspiring and touching book and a definite read for foodies.

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  • Posted October 23, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Born Round

    "Born Round" is Frank Bruni's tale of how he dealt with his fluctuating weight throughout his life. Interesting were the stories of his family and how everything seemed to revolve around food. Since both his mother and grandmother were passionate about cooking, it didn't help Bruni with his weight problem. He controlled this by becoming a swimmer in high school but was bulimic during his college years. He discusses not only his weight, but his journalism career, his homosexuality, and life in the city.

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    Posted November 15, 2010

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