Getting Sticky with Gina Bruno

When you hear a list of foods like anchovies and lamb arayes, lentils with feta, razor clams, and croquettes made from baked sardines and beans, what comes to mind? The small plate specials at an artisanal wine bar? A Park Slope potluck? All reasonable guesses, except this particular list comes straight from Mars’ roster of favorite foods. Mars, for the record, is still under three years old.

Anyone who’s ever tried to feed a toddler knows these items aren’t exactly standard fare. But for Brooklyn-based host and all-around food obsessive Gina Bruno, whose many hats include “mom to Mars,” raising an adventurous eater feels like the natural next step for a new mom whose career revolves around food—and the people and community it brings together. 

Born and raised in New York City, Gina found her calling a bit unexpectedly. After beginning her career in illustration and graphic design, she pivoted to freelance marketing and social media in hospitality. It was there, working alongside restaurants and chefs, that she fell for the wonderfully chaotic, wildly satisfying world of food and decided to pursue it herself. After working in the kitchens of some of Brooklyn’s most beloved restaurants (Misi among them) and a stint at the famed French cooking school, Le Cordon Bleu (during which time she got pregnant with Mars), Gina went on to build a career that spans nearly every corner of the culinary world.

Today, she hosts events, talks, a podcast, and private dinners, many held at Frank’s House, the beautiful Clinton Hill event space and production studio she runs. She also works as a private chef, develops recipes, and documents it all, alongside glimpses into life as a mother, entrepreneur, and wife, on social media and Substack. Since having Mars, she’s expanded this world to include motherhood, sharing seasonal, clever recipes that make cooking for young children feel less daunting and more joyful. Anchovies optional. 

Here, Gina talks about her postpartum struggles (and comfort food), the joy she finds in cooking for her daughter, and how 24 hours of “me” time can really work wonders.

Words by Rachel Hodin. Images by Jess Tran.

The “City of Love” didn’t earn its name for nothing

I'll be so honest, kids were never my favorite thing; I never really knew how to connect with children. My child is the third or fourth baby I’ve ever held in my life, which is kind of crazy to say out loud. 

Me and my husband were married for a year exactly, we were living in Paris, and something basically switched and we were like, we need to get pregnant right now. I don’t know what was in the Parisian air. I’d always leaned towards wanting children eventually, but I wasn’t in any rush. I thought I’d be an older mother, that I’d wait until after I turned 35. The shift was something I really can’t explain—I call it biological. It may have been hormonal. I truly was in no rush, and suddenly it went from zero to 100 overnight and I was like, this is what I need and want right now. Once that thought was in my brain, I was pregnant in a month. And I was 29, which is basically a teen mom nowadays. 

Proof that an easy pregnancy does not make an easy birth

We spent the first trimester and a little into the second in France and then we made it back to the States. Pregnancy was wonderful—zero complaints: I had no pains, I was able to keep up with everything, even my exhaustion level was great.

I did have a very rough birth: it was three-and-a-half hours of pushing. Everyone wanted to call a C-section, but I was able to get her out vaginally, which was really nice. But it was a traumatic birthing experience and afterwards, there’s that blackout period that you go through for at least six months. 

Now it's amazing—and it’s amazing how life kind of just continues with a whole new routine and schedule and a little baby. She's the greatest thing ever. It's an uncomfortable love and obsession I have for this child.

The best nourishment—physically and emotionally—during pregnancy and postpartum

I didn't have super crazy food cravings during the pregnancy. My first and into the second trimesters were during pretty warm months, and I could not get enough fresh fruit. It must’ve been the hydration—it was just so cold and refreshing. I was eating containers of fruit, like strawberries from a jumbo pack, as a meal. Being in France was amazing, the food quality is just superb there. But we actually cut our trip short because all I wanted was, like, American garbage. I wanted Cheerios and chips that weren't baked—I just wanted USA food.

Postpartum, I leaned towards soups and stews. That was a big weekly thing that I would do for myself: I’d make big batches that I knew I could reheat and have for a meal for at least one of the next three days. I’d load it up with vegetables, meat, grains—it kept me filled, but it was also really nourishing from the inside out. 

Two things that I ate very regularly that were not on the healthier side were cheese quesadillas—which I might have had multiple times a week, every week—and disgustingly enough, blueberry Eggo waffles, which just hit.

“I thought I was fine until I realized I wasn’t.” 

When it comes to postpartum hormonal shifts, and especially as a first-time mom, anyone and everyone—whether it's a doctor, a friend, a mother—can tell you that things are happening in your body, but until you really acknowledge it and realize it yourself, you sort of dismiss what’s being told to you.

I felt like I was fine—I thought I was fine, until I realized I wasn't. My mother-in-law said something that probably wouldn’t bother me on a regular day today, but which at the time really triggered something and ultimately made me realize that I was not balanced hormonally. I was, like, ready to strangle her; it was really aggressive, and I needed to remove myself from a few situations. This extreme protective mother bear in me kicked in just from a few words. Anger was part of what I felt, but it was also this protective barrier that I put up for myself and my child—and it was like, nothing is going to get in between. 

Physically and mentally, it was a very unhinged reaction. I started going weekly to therapy just to work through some of these hormone imbalances, to understand what was going on, and actively talking through what I was feeling.

Around five, six months postpartum is when I started to work out again. Nothing crazy: I would do mat Pilates or a yoga class, but just actively incorporating slow, regular movement into my schedule on a weekly basis brought me back to feeling like me. Around the same time, I started to feel comfortable enough to, say, leave Mars with my husband to go grab dinner with a friend or a few drinks. To have two glasses of wine was the most freeing experience ever.

TFW…you have no idea what you’re doing?

There were so many days where—and I'll include my husband in this—we felt like we were doing our best, but we also had to acknowledge that we had no idea what we were doing. You kind of just chug along and do what you think or what you’ve read is the right thing to do. But it’s like trial and error, which weighs on you. Me and my husband could be called perfectionists and that is not a great quality to have with a child. 

I think the hardest part is the balance that you have to create for yourself. Especially as an entrepreneur, because there really is no off button. Work or an event could pop up on Saturday or Sunday. And holidays do not mean you stop working either. My number one pat on the back is picking a partner that’s fully supportive and understands my lifestyle. He’s in a similar stage of life and is also an entrepreneur so we both have such a deep understanding that there's no such thing as 50/50 every day. 

Juggling that feeling of wanting to be as good a parent as you can be and to give your child enough face time with work on a daily basis and marriage has been harder than I anticipated. Doing all of these things is one thing, but doing them well is another. So that’s been hard. Me and my husband have had sit-downs to try and navigate what to do when one of us feels out of whack or is having a really hard month. Right now, we're in a good groove. 

My husband is Jewish, and we’re really working on trying to make Shabbat dinner on Fridays a weekly tradition, whether it's just with our family or with friends. We’d like to have an open-door policy where everyone knows that if they don’t have a plan, they can come to ours for Friday night dinner and there will be plenty of food. We’re really trying to make that a thing, but with a schedule that’s ever-changing, it's been a bit challenging.

Nothing challenges severe OCD like having a kid

I have severe OCD so living with a toddler and a husband has never been super easy for my anxiety. It’s sort of an ongoing internal battle. I’m the parent that has to color code and organize things after play time, which is not healthy. But I've learned to tell myself while we’re playing that it’s okay, I’ll clean it up later. Or I've started to incorporate Mars into it; we’ll sing a little song while I frantically clean and she helps a little bit. 

Obviously you want your kid to be able to eat at a table and eat well, whether it’s for 10 minutes or 30 minutes. If they’re focused on eating, it’s okay if they’re messy. You just don’t want to disrupt them—that can be like pressing the restart button, and your kid is not going back to that hyper-focused state after you do that. 

Brilliant Idea alert: take 24 hours off every month

I do think, especially at this stage with a toddler, being able to have that “me” time—whether that's with a friend or truly being by myself—is so important. Every single month, me and my husband give each other basically 24 hours off to choose whatever it is we want to do. You can go out with friends, you can go drink, you can literally take a day trip upstate and come back the next morning: whatever you want to do, once a month, and we plan around that. During all the craziness of balancing work and a baby and a partner, it’s important to give ourselves one day a month to look forward to, 24 hours when one of us can take a break from parenting.

There have been some days when the weather's been shitty so I’ve just locked myself upstairs, vegged out, and watched TV. One time I checked into a hotel, ordered room service, stayed in a robe the whole time, and did three face masks in one day. Another one is going out with one of my best friends, getting too drunk, and crashing at his house—just having a night that will absolutely hurt the next day. Those nights are so limited and so unnecessary, but also so necessary at the same time. Obviously alcohol is not a healthy thing ever, but me and my husband are the type of people who used to love a glass of wine with dinner, and we barely drink anymore. Nine out of 10 times today, I opt to not even have that glass. It’s probably not healthy, but when I have 24 hours off, I can finish a bottle and know that it’s okay if I’m hurting the next day. Sometimes I’ll choose to have a fitness day where I take a yoga class and then go to the sauna—something more nourishing than going out—but when the clock strikes and it’s 75 degrees or higher, a cocktail just sounds really nice.

The apple does not fall far from the tree (and the apple is actually razor clams) 

One of the greatest joys is feeding Mars. I started cooking for her when she was really young, making her purees when she was around four-and-a-half months old. At that point I was breastfeeding; I just wanted to see her reaction and she took it really well. From that moment on, the pleasure and excitement of letting her experience new foods early and seeing her reactions, whether it was absolute love or an absolute failure, has honestly been one of my favorite activities. And she eats everything. This kid will eat sardines from a jar or a tin. She'll eat steak. She'll eat seafood. She's such a good eater and that makes it really exciting to cook for her and try spices and levels with heat, curries, and different vegetables. 

I love going out and having a little date with her too. When she was younger, like one and a half, we went to Spain and I had the afternoon with her and we just shared a plate of fresh jamòn and razor clams. That was our meal—and this kid ate everything. As a parent whose whole existence is food, it was such a proud moment to see my one-and-a-half-year-old basically sucking down a razor clam.

When cooking for a toddler, simplicity and practicality are key

For breakfast and lunch I'm making her meals separate from mine and my husband’s just because we eat at different times for both those meals. For dinner, we come together as a family and eat the same thing—but that’s only been happening the last three to four months. She’s almost two and a half now; before, I was making her a simpler version of what we were eating. 

Ultimately, the focus is often: how quick can I do this? How can I do this with the least amount of cleanup? And what am I making that I know she's going to eat? I’m such a solid whole food eater, so this meal could be a pack of organic chicken or even a whole chicken and roasting that, and your sides are a whole avocado drizzled with olive oil and quinoa with some parmesan. It’s really easy lifts.

“My goal is to help other moms feel a little less stressed and more comfortable about cooking”

Since Mars turned one, I’ve purposely started anchoring myself and my cooking career into more of a motherhood-forward venture. I now have two Substacks: my personal Substack, The Fifth Course, where I publish recipes geared towards everyone and essay-style writing about life. And my new one, Petite Chef, which is going to feature more strictly kid-forward recipes: three per month and one article. It could be an interview with a pediatric nutritionist or another mom. It’s broken down per ingredient and according to stages of life: six months to a year, a year to three, and three years old and onwards. The recipes geared towards three-year-olds and up are really recipes that you can eat at any age—stuff that I would make for myself. 

Petite Chef is really about giving people recipes with everyday ingredients and whole foods that are relatively clean, that are colorful, and truly in-season—and of course having fun with it. It’s like I'm taking my chef brain and honing in on foods that both I and a toddler would eat for lunch or dinner.

Cooking does not come easy to everyone, which is so understandable. As a mom now, my goal is to help other moms feel a little less stressed and more comfortable about cooking. Once you get into the groove of things, it's such a rewarding feeling for you and your child to eat what you created for them. 

In defense of not throwing your toddler a birthday party 

I’ve hosted a first and second birthday party for Mars, and I think those will be the last ones until she’s actively asking for one. I just don’t think birthday parties for kids are necessary. They cost a decent amount whether you’re doing it on a small or larger scale, the kid won’t really remember it. It’s more for the parents—the friends of yours and family that you’re inviting—which is kind of ridiculous to me. So from three to, hopefully, eight, I’d rather take my child on a trip for her birthday and start creating those types of memories.

If you are throwing a party, the food shouldn’t be just chicken fingers, fries, pizza, and stuff like that geared only towards kids. You want to entertain the parents as well. For Mars’ second birthday, I think there were lamb meatballs and a chimichurri sauce, definitely anchovies, butter, and bread. It was just adult food that my child also eats. Everyone was basically an adult at the party except for, like, three kids, and they were so happy—eating good food and drinking good wine.