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I'm a foodie. I've been to some of the places mentioned in the book and met some of the chefs. I read an excerpt of this book in the New Yorker and though it was beautiful. "Dirt" should have been perfect for me, but it wasn't.

The author writes about assorted weird obsessions more than about anything in the title, and the narrative skims around from one thing to the next without a clear progression of depth despite the duration and intensity of the underlying experience.

-Chef Michel Richard is one of the main characters even though he's not in Lyon. I understand why he was dropped in; because he is fascinating. That just pointed out how a biography of him would likely have been a better book.
-The author narrates the audiobook. His French pronunciation is painful, and this reveals a lot about the likely quality of his immersion experience. It's hard to imagine how he lived in France for years and worked in a bakery but can't say "boulanger" (he keeps saying "boulangère").
-This is mainly a sort of personal memoir as opposed to a book about food or French culture. But the author's personal story is disturbing. Without a goal of becoming a chef, he chooses to work 80 hours a week for months on end in kitchens so that his wife and small children are pretty much invisible.
-His "sleuthing" is I think referring to his trying to prove that French cuisine doesn't really exist because 500 years ago it was introduced from Italy, although it's not clearly proven exactly if, how or when. Whatever. Who cares? And even if you do care about such things, then why not take apart Italian cuisine and say it doesn't really exist and is actually American, given that tomatoes came to Europe from the Americas 500 years ago?
-There is a rich culture in Lyon to talk about and he touches on it with the bouchons and the peasants and the mères, etc. But he seems to be antagonistic to it all the whole time, so the tone is wrong and overall it's just a shame.
-There are so many books about the foibles of "those crazy French" or about French cooking. I don't think this is the one to start with.

Related books to consider:
Paris to the Moon Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting A Year in Provence Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly Saveur Cooks Authentic French: Rediscovering the Recipes, Traditions, and Flavors of the World's Greatest Cuisine The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen Clochemerle Bruno, Chief of PoliceChewing-gum et spaghetti