An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies Hardcover – April 12, 2012

I'd especially recommend this book to anyone with an interest in expanding their food horizons downwards and sideways, rather than only up-up-up (in price, Michelin star ratings, social status rankings). That's not to say downwards on tastiness or interest, though, which is the point: Cowen emphasizes that he is an "everyday foodie," and while he's got strong opinions about *food,* he's not in it for the atmosphere, or at least not for nice tablecloths and obsequious waiters. More the opposite: he advises finding places where the diners look a little serious rather than glibly happy, the cooks have incentive to cook their best for you, the customers aren't glamorous, and the rent is cheap. He concentrates on "ethnic" food, with the important proviso that *all* food is ethnic food.

For the U.S., he gives a lot of attention to the creative possibilities of BBQ, one food that may be less available in authentic form in some parts of the country, but in wide-ranging profusion across a wide belt.

This book has less to offer for vegetarians, never mind vegans, than it does for people willing -- as is the author -- to eat the weird bits of meat and seafood, though he has great things to say about the greens, and the prices, at Chinese groceries. Cowen lives in Northern Virginia, and a lot of his examples reflect that. He does travel world-wide, and some of the most inspiring stories are from his low-budget eating adventures in Asia and South America, but readers in the Maryland / NoVa / D.C. area get some extra luck here.

Not everyone will like all of Cowen's rules of thumb (I think happy diners *can* be just as good a guide as angry-looking, family-fighting ones, as long as it's the food they're happy about), but they make a good starting point.

Bonus, for some people, and the main attraction for others: this is a book about food by an unconventional economist, and a book about economics by a broad-thinking foodie. Not many books about food make economic history a central component; with Cowen, you're going to learn some thought-provoking bits about incentives and supply chains. Why is America good at sauces, but bad at Cantonese food? He's got stories.

My 4-star rating loses the 5th only to account for some repetition and phrasing that I just found off; also (totally unfair) because I wish this book was a bit longer. Would like to hear more about coffee (he's got an upbeat assessment of Starbucks, which I share but for different reasons), about foods of the midwest and northwest, about central and eastern Europe ...

Highly recommended. It's already inspired me to get some local Texas barbecue, which turned out to include one of the greasiest and tastiest sausages I've ever had ;)

As a devoted omnivore, someone who is willing to try any food at least once, and who is eager to learn to actually make a new dish as well as possible, Tyler Cowen added a bit of perhaps unnecessary encouragement to my eating over the past four or five years. I read Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist, and loved his advice to order the most unappetizing dish on the menu. My wife was always irritated; she thought it was crazy to order something I might not like, but Cowen led me to some very interesting discoveries.

An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies is more of the same but with a more food focused approach. Cowen teaches that understanding the principles of supply and demand will help a consumer understand the foods he buys, makes and eat better, not only through an understanding of their history, economics and science, but also just in the simple matter of pleasure and enjoyment. After all, one of the joys of being an adventuresome eater is to live your life as well as possible. And, you have at least three times a day to practice that skill set; it pays to do it as well as possible.

The book is filled with controversial subjects, often positions that put my teeth on edge, but always positions that challenge my thinking and prejudices, even if I end up in the same place. For example, he argues that bad laws and regulations have helped to make food more mediocre over time. Certainly Prohibition had an enormous impact, not only on wine, but on foods that were grown or served with wine -- and to an extent I can see that impact still resides.

But, at the same time, there is little doubt that our food sources are safer than they might have been without Federal regulation, and one cannot ignore the horrors of industrial produced eggs, not only to the hens that live in miserable conditions, but also in the quality and healthiness of the eggs themselves. There are more than enough villians among bad laws, capitalism and excessive choice, especially choices driven by children who get their learnings from television at a very impressionable age -- and when they can most influence their parents.

Locavores, Slow Food, environmentalists, genetically modified foods, others, all fit in his gun sights for better or for worse. I am sure that the bloggers and foodies will have a wonderful time either defending or attacking many of Cowen's positions, online, in the kitchen, over the dining room table.

"Eat Locally": not so smart in a desert or perhaps where it is necessary to pay high storage costs; better and sounder to import foods to many areas -- essential in the large cities.

Insist on humane treatment for food and meat producing animals? -- More expensive and more regulation, but perhaps defensible.

Cowen's book is filled with these issues, always well presented, sometimes well argued, sometimes not so much. But well worth considering. I certainly will.

Robert C. Ross
April 2012
March, 2015

This books is more about a way of LOOKING at dining than about dining itself. You'll get some interesting history and some interesting approaches. His advice to order the worst-sounding food at a good restaurant (it wouldn't be on the menu if nobody liked it, so it probably has considerable appeal to remain there) might not be the SAFE way to order, but you'll certainly have richer experiences if you try it at times (I would never have tasted "fish with fried gluten balls" if I hadn't read this book). I've also tried restaurants in rather unappealing locations (this advice led us to a really good and inexpensive Asian restaurant in Hawaii) such as small strip malls with good results.

Really worth a read.

I am a Slow Food member and think a lot about the food I purchase and prepare. Mr. Cowen's arguments on how to find the best ethnic food, the role of GMO's, and how to feed our growing planet were often 180 degrees from my thinking. He did not convince me to change my thoughts in most areas but I am still thinking and talking about his ideas so change may still come. Do not forget the title of this book. It is by an economist so efficiency and fiscal outcomes are tantamount and do not always mesh with current organic/local thinking.