NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A MACLEAN’S SUMMER READ

A highly obsessive, hilariously self-deprecating account of the world of French haute cuisine, from the author of the best-selling modern classic, Heat.

In Dirt, Bill Buford–author of the bestselling, now-classic, Heat–moves his attention from Italian cuisine to the food of France. Baffled by the language, determined that he can master the art of French cooking–or at least get to the bottom of why it is so revered–Buford begins what will become a five-year odyssey by shadowing the revered French chef Michel Richard in Washington, D.C. He soon realizes, however, that a stage in France is necessary, and so he goes–this time with his wife and three-year-old twin sons in tow–to Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France. Studying at l’Institut Bocuse, cooking at the storied, Michelin-starred Mre Brazier, Buford becomes a man obsessed–to prov