Reading List
Authors Like
While he was editing Granta in the 1980s, Bill Buford started travelling with Manchester United's hooligans, to Turin and to Sardinia, and stayed with them for years: Among the Thugs (1991). In his forties he talked his way into the kitchen of a famous New York restaurant as an unpaid helper, then went to Italy to learn pasta-making and butchery for Heat (2006). After that he moved his wife and twin sons to Lyon so he could train as a French chef, which took five years and became Dirt (2020). The ten below were chosen on two counts: each joined a world as a participant instead of watching it, and each makes their own clumsiness part of the story.
By Lisanne Swart · 10 authors · Participatory journalism · Food, sport and obsession · Updated October 2026
Quick answer
If you love Bill Buford, the closest match is George Plimpton, who invented the method: a writer playing quarterback for the Detroit Lions. For the kitchen from the inside, read Anthony Bourdain and Michael Pollan; for a year spent turning professional, Bianca Bosker and Joshua Foer; and for the crowd that turns on the writer, Hunter S. Thompson. Each entry below says what world they joined and how they come off.
Where to start if you loved Bill Buford
If you want the closest match, read George Plimpton.
Paper Lion. A writer at quarterback for the Detroit Lions.
If you loved Heat, read Anthony Bourdain.
Kitchen Confidential. The same kitchens, from a lifer.
If you want the same year of training, read Bianca Bosker.
Cork Dork. A journalist becomes a sommelier.
If you loved Among the Thugs, read Hunter S. Thompson.
Hell's Angels. A year with a gang, until it turned on him.
If you want where it began, read George Orwell.
Down and Out in Paris and London. A Paris kitchen from the bottom rung.
If you want more reporting like this
My list of the best investigative journalism books has the rest.
10 authors like Bill Buford
Frequently asked questions about authors like Bill Buford
Who should I read if I love Bill Buford?
George Plimpton is the closest match: he invented participatory journalism, most famously in Paper Lion. Anthony Bourdain and Michael Pollan write about kitchens from the inside, Bianca Bosker, Joshua Foer and Stefan Fatsis each spent a year or more joining an obsessive world, Hunter S. Thompson rode with a gang as Buford travelled with hooligans, A.J. Jacobs and Arnon Grunberg turn the experiment on themselves, and George Orwell wrote the first great kitchen from the bottom rung.
What books are similar to Heat?
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (2000), Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker (2017), Cooked by Michael Pollan (2013) and, much older, the Paris kitchen chapters of George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London (1933).
What books are similar to Among the Thugs?
Hell's Angels by Hunter S. Thompson (1966) is the closest: a writer inside a violent group until the violence turns on him.
Is Dirt a sequel to Heat?
In a way. Heat (2006) follows Buford through a New York kitchen and apprenticeships in Italy; Dirt (2020) follows him to Lyon, where he moved with his family to train in French cooking. Each stands on its own.
How many books has Bill Buford written?
Three: Among the Thugs (1991), Heat (2006) and Dirt (2020). My guide to all three Bill Buford books covers each one.
Footnotes
List last reviewed 5 October 2026.
More from the shelf
From the bookshelf
If this shelf interested you, the full bookshelf has more: reading lists by theme, author guides, and notes on what is actually worth your time.
Browse the full bookshelf Get book recommendations