David Fishman is in the seventh grade. In the past year, he's been featured in GQ and The New York Times. Why? Because, unlike regular 13-year-olds, who read Sweet Valley High and obsess about having a "perfect size six figure and eyes the colour of the Pacific Ocean"*, David Fishman is a food critic.
I chatted to David last week because I'm writing an article about tweens. He was polite to a fault, interesting, and interested (a key quality in good interviewees, I say). His precocity was pretty amazing...but I'll get back to that.
David's story goes something like this. He walked into a local restaurant alone (he lives in New York with his parents) and made a deal with the waitress to dine there (she wasn't keen on having a kid eat alone...but he promised he'd be out by 8pm). He pulled out a notepad, and proceeded to take notes on the evening's meal, giving decor, service and food a score out of 25 (like the Zagat Guide does). Other customers and even the chef began to take notice. The next day, someone told someone else at The New York Times, and poof! A star was born.
Fishman might be the youngest food critic around, but like other critics, he's both feted and frowned upon. Alan Richman, GQ's food correspondent, profiled David for the magazine, and took a liking to the young foodie. But Eric Ripert, head chef at New York's Le Bernadin, isn't keen on the idea of a kid critiquing his goods. "Let's not glorify kids who are going to break our balls," he told The Telegraph (UK). "This is not fair. Hopefully, when he's 18 and writing officially, I'll be retired."
But when I spoke to David, he was nothing if not humble. He downplayed his food writing experience, saying "I don't pretend I'm a professional. I'm a foodie...I'm just someone who loves food." He says he understands Ripert's frustration, and explains, "I think he disapproved of the publicity [I was getting], which is fair enough." For his part, David overlooks the criticism, and just gets on with the reviews. "I've been reviewing restaurants - just for myself - for a while now. All I want to do is gain knowledge. I did this for me and I'll continue to do it just for me."
If you have some spare time, and room for another bookmark on your blog roll, check out David's blog, FishmanFoodie.com.
* That might have just been me.
Showing posts with label new york times. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new york times. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 4
Saturday, December 5
born round: the secret history of a full-time eater
Apart from eating food, I also love reading about it. Restaurant reviews, cookbooks, food lovers' guides, foodie biographies, food-travel memoirs - I love it all. Jeffrey Steingarten, Ruth Reichl, Amanda Hesser, Jay Rayner, Julie Powell - all masters of the food-as-memoir genre, are all on my bookshelf. The most recent addition is Frank Bruni's Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater.
Until September 2009, Bruni was the chief restaurant critic at the New York Times. This means he was one of the most feared men in Manhattan. As in Ruth Reichl's biography Garlic & Sapphires, he explains the lengths he went to in order to disguise himself from cunning chefs and waiters. Pseudonyms (complete with credit cards), moustaches, hats and even wigs helped Bruni escape recognition. But the real story here isn't like Reichl's - who explained how she disguised herself as a series of "nobodies" in order to see what it was really like to be served in New York's top restaurants - it's the story of Bruni's struggle with his love of food and his ongoing weight battle.
From an Italian family who was big on showing love through food, Bruni developed problems with food from an early age. Always bigger than his brothers and sister, he learns early on that food is his chief comfort - and his parents are only too happy to indulge him. As he gets older, his sedentary job (journo) coupled with low self-esteem lead him to a dangerous binge-and-purge cycle (otherwise known as bulimia). When he finally gets it all together and manages to lose weight properly and healthily, he's offered one of the most coveted jobs in the food world - restaurant critic for the New York Times. Mmm.
He decides to accept, but sets himself a series of unenviable limits. His favourite personal trainer - the one with whom he achieved fantastic results - lives in Washington. Bruni pays a small fortune to take the train to Washington each week to work out with the powerhouse. He walks from restaurant to restaurant - often miles apart - to ensure that he's burning off the highly calorific meals he's consuming. He doesn't eat much during the day, so that he can indulge at night, when he's reviewing. Because a food critic can't just try one meal - you have to give a sense of the entire menu, after all - he only eats a few bites of each. Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.
It's fascinating reading, not least for the gossipy side notes about New York's food scene (plus, an anecdote about the time Sarah Jessica Parker invites herself and husband Matthew Broderick to dinner with Bruni).
DDS verdict: read, with a glass of red and a bowl of pasta. Hearty stuff.
Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater, Frank Bruni
Available from Amazon
Until September 2009, Bruni was the chief restaurant critic at the New York Times. This means he was one of the most feared men in Manhattan. As in Ruth Reichl's biography Garlic & Sapphires, he explains the lengths he went to in order to disguise himself from cunning chefs and waiters. Pseudonyms (complete with credit cards), moustaches, hats and even wigs helped Bruni escape recognition. But the real story here isn't like Reichl's - who explained how she disguised herself as a series of "nobodies" in order to see what it was really like to be served in New York's top restaurants - it's the story of Bruni's struggle with his love of food and his ongoing weight battle.
From an Italian family who was big on showing love through food, Bruni developed problems with food from an early age. Always bigger than his brothers and sister, he learns early on that food is his chief comfort - and his parents are only too happy to indulge him. As he gets older, his sedentary job (journo) coupled with low self-esteem lead him to a dangerous binge-and-purge cycle (otherwise known as bulimia). When he finally gets it all together and manages to lose weight properly and healthily, he's offered one of the most coveted jobs in the food world - restaurant critic for the New York Times. Mmm.
He decides to accept, but sets himself a series of unenviable limits. His favourite personal trainer - the one with whom he achieved fantastic results - lives in Washington. Bruni pays a small fortune to take the train to Washington each week to work out with the powerhouse. He walks from restaurant to restaurant - often miles apart - to ensure that he's burning off the highly calorific meals he's consuming. He doesn't eat much during the day, so that he can indulge at night, when he's reviewing. Because a food critic can't just try one meal - you have to give a sense of the entire menu, after all - he only eats a few bites of each. Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.
It's fascinating reading, not least for the gossipy side notes about New York's food scene (plus, an anecdote about the time Sarah Jessica Parker invites herself and husband Matthew Broderick to dinner with Bruni).
DDS verdict: read, with a glass of red and a bowl of pasta. Hearty stuff.
Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater, Frank Bruni
Available from Amazon
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