An American family revels in French culture and cuisine. Journalist and foodie Buford, a writer and editor for the New Yorker and former longtime editor of Granta, follows Heat (2006), his chronicle of cooking in Italy, with an ebullient, entertaining memoir of life in Lyon, where he, his wife, and two young sons settled so that he could indulge his desire to learn French cooking. Planning to stay six months, they wound up living in the city, renowned for its gastronomy, for several years, during which Buford worked for a baker, gained admission to an acclaimed cooking school, and toiled among the staff of a famous restaurant. The first months were difficult, he admits: "each member of our small family had come to doubt the wisdom of the project." But he and his sons learned French (the children more quickly than their father), the boys assimilated to school, and his wife pursued her ambition to earn a diploma as a wine expert. Buford honed his skills as a chef and enthusiastically steeped himself in the culture of the French kitchen, where apprentices suffer "unregulated bullying and humiliation." As the author demonstrates, French kitchens are no less hierarchical and combative than those in Italy, and nothing less than perfection is tolerated. It "was all about rules: that there was always one way and only one way" to peel asparagus, for example, devein goose livers, and construct puff pastry; that the three principles of a French plate are "color, volume, and texture"; and that the secret of glorious bread, meat, cheese, and wine is the soil. "What makes Lyonnais food exceptional," Buford writes, is "a chef's access to the nearby ingredients" from local farms, mountain lakes, and rivers. "Lyon," he adds, "is a geographical accident of good food and food practices." He describes in mouthwatering detail the many dishes he cooked and ate and the charming restaurants the family visited. A lively, passionate homage to fine food. (first printing of 125,000) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Having learned his way around a Tuscan kitchen (Heat, 2006), Buford used his connections with American chefs to garner a novice's spot as cook in a French restaurant. He settles for nothing less than an apprenticeship in Lyon, esteemed as France's gastronomic capital. Uprooting his wife and twin sons from New York City in itself proves quite an accomplishment, dealing with an exacting bureaucracy to produce necessary visas, finding a place to live, and enrolling the boys in school. Cooking at La Mère Brazier and attending classes at L'Institut Bocuse, France's premier culinary school, proves daunting enough for the language barrier alone, but even more challenging to earn respect in the closed world of chefdom. Buford's fellow cooks are barely out of their teen years and not above physical violence when provoked. He delves into the controversial origins of French cuisine and restaurants, drawing unflinching portraits of past and present luminaries like culinary school founder Paul Bocuse himself. He pursues origins of dishes, sauces, and their ingredients, even participating in the stark grittiness of butchering a pig and learning that in France the best, most coveted flavors come from the earthiest animal organs. An inside look into haute cuisine.

Once you've mastered Italian cuisine, what's next? New Yorker writer Buford (Heat) recounts his time working for Mario Batali, and deciding to move--along with his wife and twin toddler sons--to Lyon, France. From a rocky start, which included missed flights and difficulty securing visas, Buford eventually found work in a local bakery, studied at L'Institut Bocuse, and navigated the hierarchy of the award-winning La Mére Brazier. But besides grueling days at the restaurant, Buford also spends time investigating the contentious history of French cuisine (could there be a connection with the Italian Medici daughters, who moved to France when they married?), and researching the seminal recipes of Brillat-Savarin. The author and his family remain in France for five years before returning to New York. VERDICT An often funny and eye-opening behind-the-scenes look at haute cuisine, as well as life as an expat in France. Readers will be engrossed not only by Buford's story, but that of his family as well.--Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH