What's Laird Drinking Now?

A book worth reading:

I love to read and I really enjoy food related books. I have just finished rereading one of my favorites and thought it worth a mention. Bill Buford's Heat is one of my treasured volumes. It is a story of exploration and passion. Unswervingly honest and truthful it is also incredibly funny. Bill is a man with a serious food jones. He takes us through his several year trek into the bowels of the food industry beginning with a dinner party that included Mario Batali on the guest list. Mario ends up hijacking the evening and in the process shows Bill, a confident home cook, how much more there is to learn about food.

Bill begins a new journey. He convinces Mario to let him come to work in the kitchen of one of his restaurants, Babbo. Bill is treated accordingly, as an outsider, and given the title of kitchen bitch. He is given menial tasks to prove himself and gives a wonderful narrative of the mechanics of a professional kitchen. He eventually works his way up to line cook and finds a modicum of acceptance. The interwoven stories of the lives of the other cooks remind me of my years in kitchens and there are moments that range from painful to side splittingly funny. The language is at times raw but essential to painting a true picture of a real restaurant kitchen.

With Mario as mentor, Bill eventually goes to Italy for several extended internships, first to learn the fine art of pasta making, then to learn butchering from a man called the maestro. He also spends time in England with Marco Pierre White, one of Mario?s own mentors, learning about the preparation of game. Along the way he ponders the larger meaning of food in culture and shares a real love for all things culinary.

I cannot say enough good things about Heat. It is a really good read and I think anyone who understands having passion for anything will love the lengths he goes to. It takes real bravery to follow a dream, and a very understanding wife. Heat is a great read.