Yet Buford’s self-portrayal separates the book from the countless other kitchen-memoir/trying-new-things stories on book shelves.
Our curiosity as to Dario Cecchini’s antics turns the pages, not discovering what Babbo’s pasta water looks like at the end of the night. While cooking and food guides the narrative - indeed, most readers probably come to the book interested in Italian food - Buford ensures that our desire to know what’s going to happen to Batali, at Babbo, and in Poretta Terme keeps us reading. He presents specialised knowledge that appeals to both those who are and those who aren’t familiar with what he discusses. He portrays larger-than-life personalities as surprisingly sympathetic in their reality. Although you start reading about a home-cook’s experience in the alien world of professional kitchens, Buford’s story never limits itself to memoir.īuford’s clear and funny writing makes Heat easy to love. His own journey serves as a lens through which he introduces extravagant chefs, fresh pasta and Italian culinary history. Rather than chart his own development in the kitchen, Buford tries to understand what drives people who love to cook both in professional kitchens and in front of the stove at home. Yet ‘amateur’s adventures’ doesn’t get to the real interest of the story. He describes his trips to Italy during which he served as an apprentice at a small country trattoria and at the Dario Cecchini’s butcher shop in Tuscany. Heat’s subtitle more accurately describes the book than any blurb: ‘An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany.’ Buford recounts his experiences working at various stations in Babbo’s kitchen. After my independent study tutor casually mentioned Heat - not because it was related to my topic, except peripherally - I ordered the book that afternoon. I’d been meaning to read Bill Buford’s Heatafter seeing it seemingly everywhere: at Barnes and Nobles, on Amazon, via my Good Reads ‘Recommend For You!’ page.
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