An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules For Everyday Foodies (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
I love the idea of this book, so I persisted with it much longer than I ought to have, but I just could not finish it. I should admit there are interesting nuggets in here, if you're patient. For example, I loved hearing about the author's experience shopping exclusively at a Chinese-American grocery for a month: turns out supermarket design does nudge people toward certain choices (in this case, more greens). However, so many parts of this book were so offensive and/or false that I ended up concluding that the author cannot be altogether serious. Three quick examples: 1. Part of the reason the American culinary tradition is not as strong as some other countries' is that women with children had to man the kitchens of restaurants during WWII. 2. Obesity (which the author attributes to a lack of self-control) has some health effects, but is generally a problem of "well-educated rich people criticiz[ing] the poor for not sharing their preferences or for not being aesthetic enough, by the standards of rich people of course." 3. In order to green your kitchen, you ought to use paper plates and disposable plastic cutlery.Enough. In a world teeming with good books on food, this one should not occupy another moment of thought. Good advice for food-hunting before I fly (:"Food is a product of economic supply and demand, so try to figure out where the supplies are fresh, the suppliers are creative, and the demanders are informed."The wealthy have servants to cook for them, so the food at a lot of upper-end establishments is only so-so.Children have less discerning taste buds, so allowing them to dictate the dinner choices usually ends up with fast food.The rise of the television led to the spread of convenience foods (pizzas, pies, TV dinners). People didn't want to sit down for an hour for a meal and miss their prime-time show, much less two hours to cook and clean up. Such convenience foods include all manner of snacks from bags or bowls (popcorn, cookies, chips)American ingredients are below world standards, so avoid ingredient-intensive dishes, rather go for composition-intensive dishes (blends, complex mixes). The chefs are more creative than the ingredients are fresh.Every item on the menu is there for a reason. Thus the less attractive sounding dishes probably taste good. Good food is generally found in low-rent places. The more run-down and less central the location is, the more the owners can focus on the food and worry less about meeting the fixed costs of rent.Quality customers are more important to a restaurant than a quality chef. The people coming back to eat the food are the best quality control monitors.Ask those who travel frequently for their food recommendations. Constantly eating out gives them a wider sample base.Some foods do not travel well, therefore consume them at the site of origin. Where refrigeration is not widespread, eat seafood right by the sea. (Does not apply if ingredients are flown in from their sources e.g. some high-end restaurants)Especially in India, with its generally poor rural infrastructure, a significant amount of produce (The Economist estimates 1/4) rots on the way to the market.Avoid pursuing feel-good attitudes at the expense of effectiveness. Locavores (eating foods grown within a certain radius) would do well to not live in deserts. The environmental impact of food comes from its production, less so from its transportation, unless its air-flown.Price signalling is a far more effective way to change habits than education and information. People will feel the pinch and change their behaviour if there was a green tax, no matter what their stance towards environmentalism.Mexico does not have the US notion of catering to minority customer groups. They find vegetarians odd, or even absurd.Travelling can spur the realisation that eating is a creative art.Street food is less dangerous than it seems, because it is mainly aimed at locals, who know if a particular vendor serves questionable cuisine. The kitchen is out in the open, so any usage of gutter oil or similar is plain for all to see.Unless you are spending a lot of money, Paris is the worst place to eat in all of France. Aim for the comfortable 'two-forkers' if you're looking for french cuisine.Home cooking and catered food are complements,let the division of labour be your friend.Figure out which dishes are scalable e.g. curries.
What do You think about An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules For Everyday Foodies (2012)?
Nuggets of food wisdom, but his obsession with authenticity is tiring.
—wackyjacky
fluffy foodie stuff, more chowhound than freakonomics
—iamdivergent
