What does it take to become a French chef? At first, Bill Buford (beloved bestselling author of Heat) thinks that in order to learn the fundamentals, a little time working in a restaurant, and then perhaps a few months in France, should be enough. He persuades the revered French chef Michel Richard in Washington, D.G., to take him on, but then - after quickly realizing that working in a kitchen in France is indispensable-he rashly, and rather radically, moves to Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France ... with his wife and three-year-old twin sons. He meets Bob, proprietor of Lyon's best boulangerie, becomes his apprentice, and learns how to make bread. He studies at the legendary L'Institut Paul Bocuse. He cooks at the storied, Michelin-starred La Mère Brazier and endures the endless hours and exacting rigueur of the kitchen. Weeks turn into months; seasons go by and turn into a five-year digression from normal life, all in pursuit of the answer to one question: What makes French | cooking, well, French? Buford becomes a man obsessed-with proving himself on the line, convincing chefs to reveal their gastronomic secrets, needing to understand the mysteries of the city that has become his family's home, even researching the origins of French cooking itself, suspecting-mon Dieu!-that it might be Italian! With his signature humor, sense of adventure, and masterful ability to bring the world of the kitchen vividly to life, Bill Buford has written the definitive insider story of one of the world's great culinary cultures. Book jacket.