The Heat is on

Bill Buford's Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany is absolutely brilliant. I have kept for years the issue of The New Yorker that featured the earliest sketches of Buford's journey and reread it from time to time to enjoy the way Buford chronicals his blossoming.

Not only does Buford manage to capture the adrenaline insanity of professional cooking, but also the love. It is touching to watch Buford grow to love and respect his food as he stages his way through Italy and change from a consumer to a creator. I wished for more chapters in the Babbo kitchen because the writing is so insightful that it led to a few "aha" moments for me, particularly his explanations of "bumping" and "cooking with love", both endemic in the kitchens I know.