Ah, the cozzie livs ― that relentless presence that affects everything from your grocery shop to your gas bill.
And depending on what your favourite foods were growing up, you might have found it affecting your weekly menu too.
I’m still haunted by the 2014-ish craze for kale, which suddenly made my nan’s favourite cheap side an aspirational (read: pricey) good.
The trend seems to have continued over recent years ― inflation trackers have found that the lowest-price foods have seen the sharpest increase in price over recent years.
So I was pretty intrigued by Reddit’s r/Cooking post, which read: “What are some cheap (read poor) people food that are destined to become ‘rich people’ foods?”
“I’m talking about what happened to oxtail, or flank steak, or even tacos,” poster belac4862 explained.
“Something that was, or is considered cheap foods, that are heading in the direction of being too expensive for the average person to enjoy.”
Here’s what people had to say:
1) “Some mushrooms are making this leap right now, really anything foraged. Fiddleheads too.”
2) “Beef tongue is getting ridiculously overpriced.”
3) “Sometimes I imagine an apocalyptic future in which the rich pay top dollar for the last remaining cans of SPAM.”
4) “Tinned cans of fish.”
5) “I think cottage cheese is next.”
6) “Cabbage. Now that folks have realized how versatile it is I’m seeing it all over fancy menus.”
7) “I don’t how anyone eats cereal on a regular basis anymore.”
8) “What have the rich done to the price of brisket?”
9) “I recently made oxtail soup and just accepted the high cost because I’m pregnant and was craving the soup from my childhood.”
“Still can’t believe how much I spent, but it was so good.”
u/iris-my-case
10) “Bone marrow.”
11) “Fermented vegetables like kimchi.”
12) “It happened to oysters, lobster, monkfish before my time, and during my adulthood so far, it’s also happened to lamb shanks, ox cheeks, skirt steaks, chicken, all meat really...”
“I think at the moment, the biggest increase is in good quality fresh fruit and vegetables, and here in the UK, items that are imported from the EU are more expensive because of Brexit making it harder and more expensive for importers.“
u/YouSayWotNow