Abhijit Banerjee: As anybody who has been poor or has spent time with poor people knows, eating something special is a source of great excitement.

Let me suggest one small but exquisite feast: Buy half a pound or so of soft, flavorful cheese. (I like robiola or Taleggio or a ripeish Brie.) Cut it into morsels, roughly the size of the top phalanx of your index finger, and place those in a shallow bowl. Slice two fat cloves of peeled garlic thinly and add them to a cup of nice fruity olive oil, along with a teaspoon of gently crushed peppercorns and two tablespoons of chopped fresh tarragon or another fresh herb. Whisk in a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of sherry or white wine vinegar and pour the mixture over the cheese. Refrigerate for four hours or overnight; take the bowl out an hour before you are ready to feast. Warm a baguette or other crusty bread, pour yourself a glass of whatever you like to drink and settle down to watch a good film or listen to a beloved album as you scoop up chunks of macerated cheese and garlicky olive oil.

When the cheese is gone, you might wonder whether those slices of garlic are worth biting into. They are.

Abhijit Banerjee teaches economics at M.I.T. He was a recipient of the 2019 Nobel in economic science for work on an experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. He is a co-author of “Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty.” This year he published a cookbook, “Cooking to Save Your Life,” with Cheyenne Olivier.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/23/opinion/culture/holiday-feasting-rich-poor.html