Oh the avo. The fruit that launched a thousand tweets. This millennial Holy Grail has done more to divide generations than anything save perhaps Brexit.
It has been three years since Australian property developer Tim Gurner became a hate figure for suggesting in a TV interview that it was not economic difficulty that was keeping millennials from getting on the housing ladder but a tendency to spend $19 on smashed avos for brunch. Millennials vented their anger in the only way they know how—by twitter tirade. Perhaps it would have been more fitting to pelt Tim with over-ripe avos for his audacity.
To eat avocado on toast in public is now as bold and unequivocal a statement one can make on their position in the contemporary culture wars. Millennials will happily part with a crisp, tallow-rich tenner for their feed, all the while secretly berating themselves for their improvidence. If it’s not the expense that brings on the guilt then it’s the fact they’re purportedly bad for the planet.
But what of avo toast in the post-covid age? As restaurants re-open are we about to see a return to avocado frenzy, or will the looming recession and belated discovery of the joy of home cooking by the under 30s lead to new eating out habits?
There is some reason to think the curtain might be about to fall on the brunch staple, at least when it comes to eating out.
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