Global Brooklyn: Designing Food Experiences in World Cities

What do the fashionable food hot spots of Cape Town, Mumbai, Copenhagen, Rio de Janeiro, and Tel Aviv have in common? Despite all their differences, consumers in each major city are drawn to a similar atmosphere: rough wooden tables in postindustrial interiors lit by edison bulbs. There, they enjoy single-origin coffee, kombucha, and artisanal bread.

This is 'Global Brooklyn,' a new transnational aesthetic regime of urban consumption. It may look shabby and improvised, but it is all careful...