The past two months have been very emotional food-wise for me. Two of my foodie mentors have been in the national spotlight for two very different reasons: one has received critical acclaim, while the other has reached the end of his tenure. Of course, Anthony Bourdain and Frank Bruni are fully unaware of their formal mentorship positions, but that's a moot point.
irst and foremost, let's get to the celebrating: Two weeks ago, I finally got the Emmy Awards moment I've been waiting for two years to realize.
And by me I mean Anthony Bourdain, or Tony, as I like to call him.
And by Tony, I mean his cameramen.
I'll explain.
The "Beirut" episode of Tony's show, "No Reservations," was on the slate of shows to be chosen as nominations for Outstanding Nonfiction Special in 2007, but it went no further in the competition. This special episode documented the crew's experiences in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.
Let's make this clear: They were stuck in Beirut in the middle of a war and the Emmy voters didn't think that was worthy of a full nomination? We were robbed! (And of course when I say "we," I mean Tony and his crew, who were actually in Beirut and not on their couch in New Jersey watching the show. But that's another moot point.) The year 2008 proved fruitless, as there were no nominations for the show.
I hoped for victory again on July 16 when the nominations for this year's awards were announced. We came away with three nominations in cinematography, picture editing and the créme de la créme, Outstanding Nonfiction Series, and I could barely contain myself over the past three months in anticipation of the ceremony.
The moment of glory finally came on Sept. 12. At the Creative Arts Emmys, Todd Liebler and Zach Zamboni took home the award for Outstanding Cinematography For Nonfiction Programming for the "Laos" episode. Even though Tony himself wasn't actually nominated for anything, his walking Buddha aura extends to his crew members and executive producers due to close proximity, so I'm counting this as a victory for my mentor team.
The fate of my other mentor, Frank Bruni, is far from celebration-worthy: he is retiring from his post as Chief Restaurant Critic for the New York Times. Bruni wrote a total of 270 reviews since he accepted the position in April 2004. He expanded his critiques beyond the scope of New York City restaurants more than any other chief critic in the past, writing reviews about restaurants across the country and in Europe .
Bruni has greatly influenced the way that I think and write about food. He can be downright mean in some of his reviews — he famously took away a star from Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, a move the celebrity chef has never commented on — but he also has a charming way of giving praise that is unparalleled.
Bruni was as quick to laud a dive-joint or a pizzeria as he was an upscale establishment with multiple Michelin stars; he has taught me that you can find award-worthy food in the most unlikely of places. He has also been open about his struggles with eating disorders, something I greatly admire him for. As a man who gets paid to eat out six times a week, he is as obsessed with his weight as he is with the food he critiques, constantly struggling to find a balance between the two.
Sam Sifton, the Times' dining editor from 2001-2004, was named as Bruni's replacement on Aug. 5. If Sifton keeps the post for five years as well, that would make me 26 when he retires ... probably too young for a chief restaurant critic, but with Tony and Frank Bruni as my mentors, how could they say no? But that's another moot point.
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Caryn Horowitz is a senior majoring in history. She can be reached at Caryn.Horowitz@tufts.edu.
