EDIBLE ECONOMICS

Economist Chang takes an offbeat approach to the dismal—but delicious—science.

Born in Korea, the author studied in England at a time when the food was inarguably awful. Yet even in the land of toad in the hole and bubble and squeak, global trends began to break through. “With increase in international trade, international migration and international travel,” writes Chang, “people everywhere have become more curious about and open to foreign foods.” So it is that Britain became a multiflavored nation even at a time when economics became monocultural. Using foodstuffs as metaphors as much as things in and of themselves, Chang examines them in the light of economic history. Okra, for example, came from Africa on the Middle Passage, affording the author an opportunity to reflect on the contributions of enslaved Africans not just to the antebellum economy, but also to present-day wealth. Without tobacco and cotton revenues, he writes, America would have never become an industrial marvel. The author also clearly enumerates how developing nations have been repeatedly victimized by colonialism and have an indolent if rapacious ruling class (“unproductive landlords, undynamic capitalist class, vision-less and corrupt political leaders”). Moreover, he adds, many key exports such as cochineal and indigo became valueless once European labs figured out how to make even less expensive synthetic versions. Switzerland is the site of many of these labs. However, in a chapter about chocolate, Chang notes that it’s incorrect to think it’s a service-based economy: “Switzerland is actually the most industrialized economy in the world, producing the largest amount of manufacturing output per person,” whether chocolate or machine parts. Writing gamely and with admirable lucidity, Chang concludes with another metaphor, urging that “the best economists should be, like the best of the cooks, able to combine different theories to have a more balanced view.”

It’ll help to have Econ 101 under your belt to appreciate this book, but it makes for fine foodie entertainment.