“Heat” by Bill Buford
On a whim, I picked up the book Heat by Bill Buford. 
And then I read it twice. If you like cooking or personalities, you’ll like this book. It’s full of detailed descriptions of fancy food and the colorful characters that prepare it.
Part of the book covers Mario Batali and his famous Manhattan restaurant Babbo. Buford gives a behind-the-scenes look at Battali’s flamboyant drink-all-night personality and how his restaurants are run. The second half of the book covers Buford’s experience working under Dario Cecchini, a famous Tuscan butcher (in Italy).
What I love about this story is that Buford, who had a respectable job as the fiction editor for The New Yorker, quit his job to join Babbo’s kitchen and work his way up from the bottom. And the bottom was not comfortable. Working 14 hour plus days sweating in a hot kitchen, slicing his fingers regularly, burning his hands and arms regularly, getting yelled at regularly… The kitchen of a high end restaurant does not sound like a particularly fun place to be.
It’s common advice that you should do what you love with your life and that it’s never too late to change careers. Unfortunately, most people don’t take this seriously and end up in jobs that merely pay the bills. Buford is an inspiration and example of figuring out where you want your life to go and then doing whatever it takes to get there. We should all follow his example.
Tags: Cooking, Culture, Entrepreneurship, Passion
