Economía comestible

When economist Ha-Joon Chang first landed in the UK from South Korea in the 1980s, he found a country beginning to move away from the bland English diet and experiment with the flavours of the rest of the world. It was the reverse of the journey that economics was taking, becoming increasingly comfortable in a single school. His long-awaited new book, Edible Economics, demonstrates with clear and tasty examples that just as it is essential to be open to diverse culinary traditions, so too is it essential to have a wide variety of economic perspectives. In this fascinating and delicious volume, Chang makes all sorts of economic ideas palatable, explaining them through a few ingredients and recipes from different parts of the world. Thus, chocolate may be a sweet addiction, but it provides exciting insights into post-industrial knowledge economies; and while okra makes the gumbo of the American South have a heart-melting softness, it also hints at the tangled relationship between capitalism and freedom. From the hidden cost of household labour to the deceptive language of the free market, while cooking dishes from around the world, such as Elvis's favourite sandwich, Spanish garlic shrimp and Korean dotorimuk, this irresistible populariser serves up an easy-to-digest, world-changing feast of bold ideas.