A middle-aged dad infiltrates the brutal world of high-end restaurants… Bill Buford is a writer who specializes in throwing himself into high-pressure environments that he’s not equipped to handle. For his seminal book "Heat," he spent a few months cooking in Mario Batali’s New York restaurant kitchen, a decade before Batali’s #MeToo downfall. For his latest book, "Dirt," Bill moved his family to Lyon, France, so he could learn to cook French cuisine. He saw firsthand the French reverence for rules and learned to follow them. But he also came face-to-face with the “toxic aggression” that permeates high-end kitchens. He tells us about rethinking his role as a journalist, cook, and human being after that experience, and we ask him how much the food world has changed since he covered Mario Batali. Get 500+ more great Sporkful episodes from our catalog and lots of other Stitcher goodness when you sign up for Stitcher Premium: www.StitcherPremium.com/Sporkful (promo code: SPORKFUL). Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.