French Food

Bill Buford, Dirt: Adventures in French Cooking (London: Jonathan Cape, 2020)

As mentioned by the review I read before getting this book out of the library, this could be a very annoying book, but it’s not.  Bill Buford is a writer/editor at the New Yorker.  He’s written a book on Italian cooking, which involved moving to Italy and learning to cook.  In this book he repeats the experience, but this time he moves to France to learn French cooking.  He chosen destination is Lyon, which is an important culinary capital, in large part because of the influence of Paul Bocuse and his new cuisine.  After taking a few classes in New York, he moves to France with his wife and two boys without speaking very much French at all.  Although the food is good, he finds that Lyon isn’t the friendliest city, and it takes him a while to find his feet.  An early experience is working in a bakery with Bob the baker, who uses a special flour from the Auvergne region (good bread comes from good flour is the lesson here).  After taking another course at the Institute Paul Bocuse, he the moves into a Michelin starred restaurant as a stagiaire (essentially an unpaid intern), where he works his way up to cooking the late morning meal for the staff.  It’s a fascinating insight into French cooking and food culture, and at times a really funny read.