Eating Like A 'Goomba'

Actor Steven Schirripa is a familiar face to fans of the mob hit-TV series "The Sopranos." His popular character, Bobby Bacala, is one of Tony Soprano's most loyal men.

Schirripa is also a writer, and he's out with the third in his series of "goomba" books, "The Goomba Diet: Living Large and Loving It."

You won't find many weight loss tips in the book, though. In fact, you'll find the opposite. Steve teaches how to be big stuff, goomba-style.

On The Early Show Wednesday, he explained to co-anchor Rene Syler, "The Goomba Diet … is a joke. It's a joke book. But it's what I think is important in life, all the things that I celebrate: family and food and love and wine and good friends and laughs. What the hell else do we have, you know what I mean? What else do we have besides having a good time.

"And on the Goomba Diet, if you feel like you're putting on a few pounds, you hang out with fatter friends. Or if you don't feel like working out, you pay a guy to work out for you. Or you want to get motivated to run, don't pay your bookie for two weeks!"

Schirripa says this third goomba book is "like the Harry Potter trilogy for goombahs.

"It's a bunch of good stories about growing up Italian. We eat at all times. There's no bad time. You never hear an Italian say, 'How could you eat at a time like this?' We could eat any time. We eat when we're happy, we eat when we're sad, we eat at funerals, breakups, divorces, celebrations. That's what the book is about."I'm not promoting obesity, 'Get fat.' I mean, have fun! Easy with the yoga, and the raw food, and let's enjoy a little bit."

What, exactly, is a goomba?

"You know," Schirripa answered, "it's a mensch (A Yiddish word for 'gentleman'). It's a camaraderie, it's a friend, it's your cousin. …
You know, you connect with someone. And it doesn't matter how big you are, or how small you are. It's really what's in your heart, you know, and that's how I describe it.

"We talked to … a lot of the characters on the show, a lot of the cast members about what's a good night out for them. And they all basically said the same thing. Some good friends, some good family, good food."

The last season of "The Sopranos" is coming up, and Schirripa noted Bobby is "still alive. We got eight more episodes. We're supposed to go into production in the beginning of July, and we'll finish out at the end of the year, and bobby's doing fine," though, he conceded, that could change on a dime!

Schirripa makes no secret of his gratitude to "Sopranos" honcho David Chase, saying, "I'm a guy that acting came late to. I started late. I've been very lucky, literally hitting the lottery. David Chase has obviously changed my life in more ways than one. And all the writers, and I've made friends that I've made for life, cast members. It's been great. And I'm still the same guy. I grew up in brooklyn. I'm the same guy. I have the same friends.

To read an excerpt, click here.