These days there seems to be a real sense that success is about luck, about being in the right place at the right time, and certainly there is an element of that in all these chefs' stories. What Wright's book makes abundantly clear is that in the beginning working incredibly hard for very little money and to the detriment of your personal life is also likely to be on the cards. I've never taken a new job with a pay cut because I think I might learn something useful - but Shaun Hill used to do it all the time, and Gordon Ramsay's done it too. These people took jobs in other kitchens on their days off, for goodness' sake. Obsession doesn't really cover it. These in-depth interviews, linked by Wright's musings on what makes good food and why it matters, really do give you a glimpse of what drives these men to spend so much of their lives creating what is surely one of the most ephemeral of products. At the end of the day, nothing remains of the dishes they plan and hone to perfection but dirty plates and your ever fatter belly. Why do they do it? They can't help themselves.