What A Life Lesson We Learn From The Avocado Toast
Many things can learn from this popular fruit
By Tony Yeung
Avocado is the most popular fruit in 2017.
I dare saying that avocado toast is the best selling food around the world in 2017.
According to this article, American, namely Millennials, spend nearly $900,000 per month on Avocado Toast. The data from a tech company, Square, shows that the avocado toast business is definitely booming. In 2014, American only spent $17,000 per month on this toast, compared to $890,500 in 2017.
So what makes this food so trendy and popular?
On May 2017, Tim Gurner, a multimillionaire property magnate in Australia, told 60 Minutes Australia that “When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each.” He told young people that they should stop spending money on avocado toast and coffee if they want to buy their first home.
Gurner wanted to make the point that young people spend too much money on lifestyle, while older generations saved money to invest in a property.
It is true that saving money is the best way for buying the property.
However, we live in the digital age. The millennials can feel very offensive when they receive the condescending advice online.
In response to the millionaire’s advice, the Internet has many thoughts. Many people choose to interpret Gurner’s point that the avocado toast is responsible for the housing crisis among the young people.
This interpretation of Gurner’s comments led to jokes among the millennials on the social media. The millennials took the issue with the idea that the avocado toast is the primary thing that’s stopping them to own their home.
This twitter user even compared to the issue with the craft beer. Actually, stop buying craft beer could save a lot of money, too.
On the other hand, some millennials claim that young people are not all crazy about the avocado toast. The stereotype is not true at all. According to a study from Huffington Post and YouGov, people between 18 to 29 are not really obsessed with avocado than people in other age group. Actually, people in 30s are the major group who are the avocado lovers.
The Major Conflict of Feeling and Saving
We need to be clear that there are a group of older millennials in their 30s now. According to Wikipedia,
Millennials (also known as Generation Y) are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years.
Although there is no exact dates, the millennials, who were born between 1981 to 1987, are 30s now. This group of millennials are in the ages between 30 to 36. When the research shows that more than 38% of people in 30–44 are obsessed with the avocado, it does not provide the detail number, such as the percentage of the millennials in 30s who love avocado.
So, what is my point here?
Gurner, nevertheless, only tries to show that the younger millennials (ages 18 to 26) need to prioritize the little things and stop spending too much money, in a harsh way. It is true that student debt is too high, wages are stagnant, and it is difficult to find a job during the Great Recession. We should not blame these major economy factors on our own personal situation. Spending a large percentage of income on eating out, going to bars, or feeling good is not a realistic plan on saving money.
However, the younger millennials feel offended on the advice. They take the advice into another level and claim, “if we stop buying the avocado toast every day, I need to save over 600 years to buy a house in my city.”
It is typical when older folks tell the younger people to do what it is better for them. People bring up any point to prove that others do not have a good point.
At the end of the day, it is their life choice. It is their choice to prioritize the things that make them happy. It is their choice to live in one of the most expensive area in the city. It is their choice to spend money that may make them feel good in the moment. It is their choice to choose how their life is.
From the other side of the Avocado Toast
We can see this from the other side of the avocado toast. Arguments always have two sides. People always want to conform their world view. They want to show their view is better than others.
Older people have experienced the life of the ages of 18 and 29: spending money on drinking, smoking too much, and acting irresponsibly. On the other hand, the younger people do not like the stereotype. They do not like being judged. They want to conform their view. This conflict between older people and younger people is similar to the argument between the parents and the kids.
All these conflicts are the important part of personal development and life lesson. At the end of the day, we are all fine.
About the author
Tony Yeung fails to get his Twitter account verified, but he never gives up to write articles on Medium.com
