It reminded me a bit of A History of the World in 6 Glasses in style and aims, though with a different focus as Standage's is history and Chang's is economy. Now I’m off to read some additional reviews to see what others thought about this one, because I’m not entirely sure what to think. Each chapter in this relatively quick read starts off with a description (often personal) of a food item, such as garlic or anchovies, before building an unexpected but interesting linkage to some economic concept.

The author states that they want to provide different perspectives and let the reader decide, but I found that to be very disingenuous. Ha-Joon Chang is a Professor Economics at SOAS University of London, and is one of the world’s leading economists. Because one thing that comes through in Edible Economics, which is more absent in his Chang’s previous books, is that development is difficult. I'm not much of a recipe enthusiast, but sometimes I wanted to know the preparation part of the recipe mentioned. As Chang points out, the fact of the matter is that places such as Korea developed because of sustained investment.The author does address the strange connections he makes in the afterword, though perhaps I would have liked to have known what to expect a little more in the beginning. Ha-Joon Chang uses food stories, knitting world history and personal stories together, to explain important themes in economics; often deconstructing popular economic myths that stil inform mainstream economics education and policymaking (including “post-industrialisation”, the “free market”, the importance of the care economy, misunderstandings of the welfare state, protectionism, innovation etc. Of course, the author is not an historian and neither is he a sociologist, and his explanations are going to be simplified for the sake of readability, clarity, and brevity too, as this is a short book. So overall, I did enjoy the book, but think the execution was a bit more chaotic than it needed to be.

I was worried that this book would be similar to the Jungle and I'd be considering being a vegan after reading this book. P111: “[re education] In other words, equality of opportunity is not enough; we need a relatively high degree of outcome. This might not be the book for you if you aren't interested to know about some random food facts and already know some basics of economics.I enjoyed every one of Chang's food segments that usually included a brief history of what a particular culture eats and some interesting thoughts on recipes and differences between the cultures. This book isn't about the economy of food production from planting to the market's shelf but about worldwide economics explained through food, a clever concept that makes economics accessible for the layperson. This is effectively a collection of blog posts in which a single type of food is extraordinarily loosely tied to a vague topic in economics. In my case, it was like a roller-coaster ride that I finished in a breath, but its charm will stay forever.

That makes it so very understandable, put so simply, than the complex sociological and economical theories most of us would find labyrinthine at best and boring or dry at worst.Explaining everything from the hidden cost of care work to the misleading language of the free market as he cooks dishes like anchovy and egg toast, Gambas al Ajillo and Korean dotori mook, Ha-Joon Chang serves up an easy-to-digest feast of bold ideas. I'm very used to Europeans and Europe-based gurus (the author is South Korean, but he's made his career in the UK, so I'm counting him in) being awful at analysing South America, save the Spaniards and Portuguese because language and historical ties that continue make them closer and more in touch, but it never ceases to bother me how ill-informed their commentary can be sometimes.

Chang’s preferred growth model, once unorthodox, is close to being an “anti-Washington” consensus these days, and like all such consensuses, has weaknesses. That said, an interesting and creative approach to get more people interested and understand how economics work at a global scale.The food stories are not just a pretext for a dry lecture, they are fascinating and engaging in themselves - so much engaging that you won’t realize when they morph into the economic ones. Myth-busting, witty and thought-provoking, Edible Economics shows that getting to grips with the economy is like learning a recipe: if we understand it, we can change it - and, with it, the world.