An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies
An Economist Gets Lunch suffers from a good deal of sloppy diction and a casual, haphazard, all-over-the-map structural strategy. Meanwhile, Cowen's pedigree as an economist can make for an unfortunate tendency to present either obvious or loony ideas as new insights. . . .  As an eater, I often found myself agreeing with Cowen's commonsensical (if fairly obvious) recommendations for eating out and shopping at grocery stores. As a would-be reformer, he is much less convincing. —Kate Christensen