Heat

by Bill Buford

This wasn't on my list of books to read, but it was available at my last visit to the library, so I picked it up. And I am so glad I did!

I consider myself like Bill Buford in his pre-Babbo days--an amateur in the kitchen. Maybe I've had more success than he has--but then again, my standards for success are pretty low, considering I cook mainly for a husband who doesn't complain too much about what I feed him (except when they involve cruciferous vegetables).

This book had me laughing out loud at so many things--Buford's inviting Mario Batali to his home, for a meal, and the results of that encounter; his adventures in the Babbo kitchen, his apprenticeships in Italy to a pasta maker and butcher.

The book is also full of well-considered musings on food and our relationship to it.

Buford paints wonderful pictures of the people he works with, like Mario and his kitchen staff, and the people he meets in Italy. I never got the sense that any of them were caricatured.

I cannot wait for the sequel (if he does write one, about his continuing culinary education in France)!

I must admit feeling sooo envious of the author--that his life and his work allowed him to pursue the activities he describes in this book--working in a restaurant for more than a year, taking many trips to Italy to learn how to cut up a pig and cow...