The selection for the month of November was Heat by Bill Buford
I became fascinated with books about chefs and food after I read my first "food" book Tender at the Bone . I just can't wait to "eat up" any good food book that comes my way. Unfortunately Heat isn't the type of "food" book I usually enjoy.
The story is about Bill Buford a writer, who asks himself one day what it would be like to work in a professional kitchen. He sets off to find out, working in the famous Babbo kitchen of the even more famous Mario Batali (or is it the other way around?).
I found the book a bit slow paced. I enjoy a book more about what food means to the author and the memories that are invoked when s/he's eating and cooking, there wasn't much of that.
What I did enjoy was Buford's account of the time he spent in Italy learning how to make fresh pasta, butcher an animal, and about the people he met along the way.
I also enjoyed learning a bit more about that quiet and timid Iron Chef Mario Batali (insert sarcasm) and how Buford was his Slave in the kitchen. Although Batali and Buford are friends, Buford is quite honest in his accounts of what an a@# Batali can be, so I'm guessing he a lovable a@#.
I can see that. A big read headed, swearing, lady chasing, drunken, lovable a@#.
Anyway, it's always interesting to get a true picture of what it's like to work in a restaurant kitchen, you'll get plenty of that if you read this book.
I always thought I would never work in a kitchen, but this book has sealed the deal.
A chef in a restaurant I will never be.
After the Babbo kitchen and all the Mario information, I was pleasantly surprised with how it all wrapped up. At one point near the end, Buford mentioned Mario and it took me a second to remember who that was. I was telling my husband that I didn't always like everything that happened (neither did he) or some personalities (same), but he presented it well.
ReplyDeleteOne of my best friends recommended the book, though, so I am glad that I have finally read it.