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Interview with
Michael Ruhlman
Conducted by
Dan Wickett
on
2/11/2002
The following is an interview of Michael Ruhlman. He is the author of four works of non-fiction: BOYS THEMSELVES, THE MAKING OF A CHEF, THE SOUL OF A CHEF, and WOODEN BOATS. He currently resides in Cleveland with his wife and children, and is working on book number five, this time about pediatric congenital heart surgeons. Dan Hello Michael, thank you for taking the time for this interview Michael Any excuse to procrastinate. Dan All of your work has been non-fiction to date, meaning you actually have to research your topic. How much time do you have to spend doing so for your work? Michael The perfect balance is nine months gathering material, nine months writing. But with making of a chef, after 9 mos gathering, I only had four months to write the book before our money ran out, so I wrote the book in four months. With the heart surgeon, the gathering process has taken a long time--took me six months just to figure out what was going on with congenital heart defects. Dan In doing your research, is there a great deal of travel required? If so, does being away from your family ever cause you to possibly not complete your research as tightly as you would have liked? Michael I would avoid the research altogether if that were the case. We either up and move somewhere, or if it's going to be a long trip, I lie to my wife and tell her we're going on vacation. Dan Your work focuses on craft. The day to day molding of students, good food, wooden boats, and soon pediatric hearts. As what you do is a craft in itself, do you think you’ll ever take a look at the craft of writing? Michael I love that idea, and like to talk about the physical facts of the writing life, but it seems ultimately kind of onanistic. Some people have written really nice books on writing. Stephen King, whose fiction I cannot read, wrote a really smart funny book about writing. Huddle has written well about writing. Dan About half of your work, the entire first book on cooking, and a third of the second book on cooking, you needed to “infiltrate” your subjects, not allowing them in on the fact that you were reporting on their activities. How do you think the lack of that “infiltration” has affected your other works? Michael Actually, it was only during one third of one book that I was in cognito, at the Certified Master Chef exam. I always make sure people know who I am and what I'm doing. There can be legal issues involved when you misrepresent who you are and or lie about why you're writing down everything people say. I don't think it matters too much one way or another so long as you become a regular presence in the world you're writing about--people can put on a front for an hour's interview but they can't change who they are when you're around them for a half a year or a year. Dan What improvements have you seen in your own work over time? What areas do you feel still need work? Michael I've learned to write faster, which may not improve the work but does improve the time-working to money-earned ratio. But it's hard for me to judge my own improvements--I feel like an imposter no matter what I do. Every area needs work, but I struggle most over structuring a narrative. Because I write about work and situations that don't have beginnings middles and ends, I have to create them, while remaining true to actual events. Dan I know you have received a negative review or two. How do you let your reviews affect you and your future writing? Michael They don't upset me at all. Unless you're referring to that fuckhead Yardley. Dan Do you begin to think of your future projects while on the current one? If so, what do you do? Michael Always. It takes so long to sell these things, we'd be broke if I didn't. Then I'd have to get a regular job. And then I'd have to cut my throat. Dan Your work has some consistencies from book to book. The most significant to me is the “character” development. The main “artists” within your works are developed slowly, almost as those in a novel would be. Is this done specifically for any type of effect? Michael I think we read stories more for character, for people, than for anything else. Character is what fascinates me personally. So the effect I'm reaching for is the same one a novelist does in many ways--or at least I make a lot of the same decisions in drawing a character as a novelist does. I just draw them from actual people in actual situations and a novelist draws them from a whole range of personal experiences. Dan Those rare moments you have some free time, do you tend to read fiction, or non-fiction? Michael Right now I read almost exclusively non-fiction because of limited time, but when I read David Huddle's new novel, it made wish I read more fiction. I've become very impatient with fiction unless it's so good it demands to be read, that I can't not pay attention to it because it feels like a matter of life or death. That's a good novel. Dan Do you have any aspirations to write a novel before you’re through? Michael I do, but first I'm going to fudge--I'm going to write a semi-fictional story, that way if the fiction parts smell like old socks, I can revert to facts without having wasted too much time. Dan You won the 1999 James Beard Award for Food Writing as well as having an article you wrote included in the Best Food Writing 2000. You really came to acclaim with the two food books. Do you ever plan on returning to this topic for a full length work? Michael I hope to move to central France and work on a farm where they still work the land, cook in gigantic fire places, and preserve meats the old pre-refrigeration way, and also to stage in a three-star kitchen. I think I can get cooking out of my system with one more book. Dan You have done book readings for those two books, both with and without chefs present. Do you get a different caliber of audience and question when a chef is present? Michael The audience is typically hungrier when they know a chef is around. Dan You learned the skills to actually be a line cook in a fast paced restaurant. What is your favorite meal to cook? How about to eat? Michael I like braising cheap tough cuts of meat and transforming them into succulent, meltingly tender delicacies--short ribs, oxtail, beef shank, pork shoulder. And you smell these dishes all day long and it soothes the soul. I know for a fact bills are easier to pay on a Sunday afternoon when short ribs are in the oven. Dan Your last book was on the art of Wooden Boat making. Do you foresee owning such a boat at any time in your life? Michael Only if that book sells better. Dan You are currently writing about pediatric congenital heart surgeons. What similarities do you see between the “artists” within your collective works? Michael Surgeons and chefs are lunatic in similar ways and that interests me. The OR and the kitchen are alike in their demands for efficiency, focus, the quantity of high stress work done in them. The consequence of error differs considerably, though. Also, people who work with their hands and have achieved excellence in their profession, I've found, are absolute maniacs for details, have no tolerance for imperfection, and have incredible stores of energy. Dan Congratulations on your success to date, and thanks again for helping me with this interview Michael You bet!
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