Edible Economics, by Ha-Joon Chang

When I was an International Relations student I took some modules in economics to try and understand more about poverty and development in Africa. They told me almost nothing useful, and it was in Ha-Joon Chang’s book Kicking Away the Ladder that I found the reasons why.

I had been told a heavily redacted history of development that emphasised free trade, and ignored the more complicated policies that actually made wealthy countries rich. For decades institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF used that story to force poorer countries into a development model that actually held them back – essentially closing the route out of poverty that the richest had taken themselves.

As an economist from South Korea, Ha-Joon Chang has a much more nuanced perspective that stands outside of traditional Western political divides. Korea’s industrialisation is still in living memory, unlike the UK or the US. It’s a living contradiction to the conventional economic dogma. Chang was influential in my own understanding, and became one of my favourite writers on economics. It helps that his books are more engaging and entertaining than almost any other author on the subject. Books like 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism or Economics: A User’s Guide are bestsellers for a reason. They’re books on economics that are for everyone. Honestly.

Edible Economics is in a similar vein, and here Chang uses food as a way into the topic. Each chapter picks a dish, explores its history and culture, and uses it as a jumping off point to probe some economic assumptions: “I am trying to make economics more palatable by serving it with stories about food,” he writes.

Each of the 17 dishes here introduce a topic in an unexpected way. A discussion of how prawns are enjoyed in different ways in different countries raises the question of why people eat prawns but turn up their noses at insects. Which leads to the traditional Korean snack of silkworm pupae, and then into the importance of silk, and then how Japan went from being an exporter of silk to a high-tech industrial economy by nurturing and protecting its industries.

Chang is a foodie but not a snob, and like his economics, he appreciates a bit of everything. A comparison between Korean and Italian noodles leads to the story of a pasta shape developed by a car designer, to the evolution of Hyundai and the Korean car industry. Limes take us into a history of the British Navy’s battle against scurvy, and informs a discussion of governments’ role in climate change. Strawberries introduce the topic of worker rights, and then an assessment of AI as a threat to jobs. The diversity of the chapters is part of the message: the most exciting chefs often fuse the best of different traditions, and it’s the same in economics. Use your imagination, and choose a varied diet of economic theory.

These excursions are often very creative. They felt to me like the result of many years musing things over at the kitchen counter while preparing food, or discussing the connections with friends and family over the dinner table. The acknowledgements reveal this to be the case – the idea for the book dates back to 2006, and its long gestation pays off. The book explains lots of useful and sometimes complex ideas in short and entertaining ways. It’s thoughtful, funny, and best read with a snack.

Chapters are short and self-contained, making this a book to enjoy like a box of chocolates rather than to wolf down in one go. If you never read books on economics, and aren’t convinced that it could ever be interesting, then this might be a book to change your mind.

• You can order Edible Economics from Earthbound Books UK or US