A field guide to one theory
Judge a city by its Wednesday lunch.
Good food isn't about how rich or cheap a city is — it's about who the cook answers to. This guide scores — cities on one question: is the everyday meal sold to informed regulars who'll be back, or to strangers who never will?
"Money doesn't protect a meal — the composition of the room does."
The two questions, plotted
Every city answers two questions
Across: who fills the tables — one-time visitors or informed regulars? Up: do locals eat out as an occasion, or as a daily habit? Where a city lands decides how it eats. Tap any dot for the verdict.
Scores are opinionated judgment calls made by applying the framework — not survey data. Argue with them; that's rather the point.
The index
Where the cook answers to somebody
Every city carries a score, a type, and the price of its everyday tier — because affordable is relative to local wages, not to your currency.
The assessment
Check any city against the criteria
Six questions about anywhere — the town you're in, the trip you're planning, the place you grew up. Answer honestly and the framework does the rest.
The theory
Why the framework works
Hammered out over one long argument about pizza prices. The wealth theory came first; this is what survived contact with Naples, Zurich and Rome.
1. Will the seller ever see the diner again?
Repeat custom is what enforces quality. A room full of regulars disciplines a kitchen; a room full of one-timers rewards the location instead. Tourist money buys tables without buying accountability — which is why it corrupts every price point it touches.
2. Do locals eat out as a habit, or as an occasion?
A daily eating-out culture creates volume and competition at the cheap end — even a noodle cart faces brutal repeat scrutiny. Occasion-based cultures only sustain quality from the mid-tier up.
Regulars, eating out daily
Everyday food city
Eat almost anywhere, at the local everyday price. This is where poor countries beat rich ones.
Tokyo, Bangkok, Naples, Mexico City, Singapore
Regulars, eating out occasionally
Business-solid
Good food exists but the cheap tier is thin. Wage-adjust before judging: the everyday meal simply carries a bigger number.
Frankfurt, Zurich, Düsseldorf, Oslo
One-timers, but locals still eat out
Two-speed city
Terrible at the sights, excellent fifteen minutes away where the repeat customers are. Homework pays.
Rome, Barcelona, Lisbon, Kyoto
One-timers, occasion dining
Accountability desert
Nobody answers to anyone. Lower your expectations — or eat where the staff eat.
Venice, Cancún, Monaco, Santorini
Depth
An unbroken tradition compounds standards for generations. It needs great hinterland, a daily paying audience, uninterrupted transmission, and institutions that train judgment — txokos, DOP consortiums, apprenticeships. Tokyo, Bologna, Oaxaca.
Breadth
Diaspora communities cooking for their own exacting diners. Imported judgment plus family-labour economics — the escape hatch from the high-wage trap. London, Singapore, Toronto, Houston.
Wealth (the footnote)
Money funds the mid-tier and raises the everyday price. It modulates, it doesn't cause: judge the CHF 25 lunch as you'd judge the €8 one, because that's what a local spends without thinking.
Tourism (the corrosive)
One-shot custom breaks the feedback loop at every price point. The same €18 pizza is great in Zurich and rubbish in central Rome — the price is identical; the customer isn't.