Title: Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as kitchen slave, line cook, pasta-maker, and apprentice to a Dante quoting butcher in Tuscany
Author: Bill Buford
I'd love to go back through my reading list for the last two years and figure out how many food-related memoirs and other books I've read. I'm guessing it's somewhere between 8 and 10, and every one of them has been so entertaining. If I were an academic, and not just an armchair academic, I'm sure that I'd be making food writing my area of emphasis. Maybe it's just because I've been trying to get skinny for the last few months and I've been living vicariously through my books when it comes to food.
Regardless of the reason, Heat is a fantastic book. Bill Buford, a writer for the New Yorker and an acquantaince of Food Network chef Mario Batali, decides to write an article about working in the kitchen of Babbo, Batali's flagship restaurant. His time in the kitchen turns into a year-long internship, after which he moves to Italy to apprentice to a pasta-maker and a butcher. I loved his story, and I also loved seeing his journey-- becoming more than just a food lover who can throw a good dinner party. I was excited to see that he's now at work on a book about French cuisine. I wonder how Batali (hater of all things French) feels about that.
--originally published 6/11/07
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