The Experience Economy

I am an instinctive sceptic of what we have been taught to call " the experience economy ". The 21st-century, business analysts inform us, has witnessed an important shift in middle-class spending, from the material to the intangible. Instead of watches and sofas, we prefer to spend our money on concerts, festivals, immersive theatre and - here I struggle to suppress a shudder - novelty dining experiences ... "Experience" - heady, hedonistic , living on eternally in memory - is the precious, effervescent, quicksilver stuff of which a well lived life is made... In London, the Evening Standard reports there has been " a huge surge in ultra-expensive restaurants " charging £150 or more per head for a meal. The demand comes not only from the wealthy but from the aspirational middle class, from whom a dinner is no longer merely a meal but another opportunity for memorable experience. Hence 12-course tasting menus and viral social media chefs ostentatious...