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This review of Tyler Cowen’s new book, “An Economist Gets Lunch” appeared in Canadian Business Times on April 27, 2012. Cowen’s latest work of pop economics is a bracing riposte to the locavore likes of Michael Pollan and others who blame commercialization and agribusiness for the miserable state of North American cuisine. While he doesn’t deny that American food has journeyed a “long arch through some big black spots,” Cowen argues it is too simplistic to vilify the industrialization of agriculture. Instead, he blames factors ranging from Prohibition, which forced the closure of some of the best restaurants, to the rise of the two-income household, which popularized the frozen dinner. These forces created “a century-long perfect storm of bad news for good food,” but blaming the agricultural infrastructure is misguided. “The printing press brought us both good and bad novels,” he writes. “but it was a cultural boon nonetheless.” His thesis is well taken, but some of his best insights come when he applies an economist’s methodology to everyday quandaries like choosing a restaurant. He argues that low-rent venues allow restaurateurs to innovate, making them better bets than hot restaurants in pricey locales. Thinking of dining at an ethnic restaurant near a dollar store with an abandoned car out front? “If so, crack a smile, walk through the door, and order,” he says. “Welcome to the glorious world of good food. Read more…

This review of Tyler Cowen’s new book, “An Economist Gets Lunch” appeared in the New York Post on April 21, 2012. Don’t eat at a restaurant packed with beautiful women. Any Chinese place, even at the most woebegone formica joint in the dullest small-town strip mall, can be a good one if you know what to say. And get to a barbecue place early — before noon. So says Tyler Cowen in his smorgasbord “An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies” (Dutton). The vague title provides cover for the wide range of food issues Cowen considers, all the way from why American food got so bad to why hundreds of millions of Indians are starving to why locavorism usually makes no sense. Just think of it as another contrarian ideas party; “Freakonomics” for food. Cowen’s special sauce is rationality, which is why this may be the first food book I have ever made it through. (I nearly threw Anthony Bourdain’s macho-man pose-a-palooza “Kitchen Confidential” into the fireplace after 20 pages). Eating, especially in restaurants, is a subject that opens into a lot of other fields. There’s location, trendiness, class, alcohol, decor, socializing and even the beauty of your servers and fellow diners to distract you. All of these are factors in why food writing is so bad: There are so many other things to consider that the restaurant critic often doesn’t get around to the food until the second half of the review. When I pointed this out to one such writer, he sighed heavily and said, “Yes, but how many ways are there to say ‘crunchy’?” EATING OUT — FAR OUT Cowen is an economist at George Mason University who is widely admired in the field for his influential Marginal Revolutions blog and also runs a food blog (Tyler Cowen’s Ethnic Dining Guide, whose motto is “all food is ethnic food”). He gets around the food-writing problem by taking it for granted that you’ll agree with him on what makes a great-tasting meal. The meal is all that matters to him. He doesn’t care if it’s served in a hut by the side of the road or if you have to sit on a picnic bench to eat it. He’s willing to for a fantastic dish, but he doesn’t pretend food is better just because it cost more. Read more…