How Burritos Became a Cost of Living Lightning Rod

0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. A wide-ranging argument over the cost of living has found an unlikely focal point online: the humble burrito.

Numerous conservative figures and commentators have chimed in on X, formerly Twitter , in a conversation regarding how much eating out and everyday groceries cost . The online dispute reflects wider frustration over the cost of food, with both grocery and restaurant prices having risen considerably over the past decade despite a recent slowdown in inflation .

It comes as food prices have become one of the most keenly felt measures of price pressures facing American households , with the cost of both groceries and eating out rising substantially over the past decade. Polling also shows that food costs remain a serious concern for many Americans, turning an argument about one meal into a broader debate over affordability, consumer choices and what everyday purchases should cost.

The exchange appears to have begun with conservative commentator Matt Walsh, who complained on X that grocery prices remained unacceptably high. "Grocery prices are insane. They’re still rising," Walsh wrote in his post that has been viewed more than 4 million times. "Addressing this problem should be the number one priority of every elected leader."

The discussion soon shifted from supermarket aisles to restaurant menus. Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, shared a student’s assessment of the affordability crisis: "One of our TPUSA college students gave me his take on affordability: "A burrito shouldn’t cost $20.”"

Kolvet said that while high prices partly reflected inflation originating during the pandemic and under the Joe Biden administration, consumers were left with the same impression: "It just feels like basic things cost too much."

That prompted a counterargument from Joel Berry, managing editor of conservative satire website The Babylon Bee, who responded to Kolvet's post pointing out the difference between eating out and preparing food at home.

"Last night, my wife made homemade burritos for our family of 8 and it cost less than $20 total for everyone," he wrote. "Im [sic] beginning to think the affordability crisis is really an "I don’t know how to cook" crisis."

Berry's post, which has been viewed 11 million times, sparked a wave of reaction. Walsh responded saying that "no matter how thrifty your family might be, and no matter how cheap your homemade burritos, the significant rise in grocery prices over the past 6 years -- and the fact that the rise is continuing, not stopping, and certainly not reversing -- is just a mathematical reality."

"It can't be denied. It is a fact," his post continued. "Grocery prices have gone up by 30 percent or more this decade. I'm happy for you if your family isn't significantly impacted by this problem. But it is real. And it is a problem. And conservatives better come up with an answer that isn't just 'learn how to make cheap burritos' or we will get absolutely crushed. That's another reality."

Newsweek has contacted Berry, Walsh and Kolvet for comment via their X accounts.

Dozens of others chimed in. One X user, posting under the moniker Southern Man, wrote: "Let’s all downgrade our lifestyles we’ve built so the government can spend recklessly. Got it."

Another user wrote: "While true that the cost of cooking at home vs eating out is always less that doesn't escape the rampant inflation issue which has absolutely distorted affordability for the average American."

Speaking in Nevada on Wednesday night , Trump said the cost of a range of goods and services had fallen "way down" under his administration.

"The cost of rent, groceries, and other staples is coming down very fast. Our costs are coming way down. You know, they talk about affordability. I took over the country. The prices were through the roof," he told the crowd in Las Vegas.

Federal data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show grocery prices are about 35 percent higher than a decade ago in 2016, while the cost of restaurant and other food-away-from-home purchases has climbed by roughly 51 percent.

The sharpest recent increases occurred during the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath. Grocery prices rose by 11.4 percent in 2022, their largest annual increase in decades, followed by another 5 percent rise in 2023. Although inflation has since moderated, prices have not returned to their previous levels.

Groceries were still 2.7 percent more expensive in June 2026 than a year earlier, while food away from home rose by 3.4 percent. USDA expects grocery prices to increase by an average of 2.7 percent across 2026, with restaurant and other food-service prices forecast to rise by 3.5 percent. Individual categories have experienced much larger increases: beef and veal prices were 11.8 percent higher in June than a year earlier, while fresh lettuce prices were up 32.1 percent.

The continuing increases have left a majority of Americans feeling that groceries are beyond what their household budgets can comfortably absorb.

A July 2026 Washington Post-Ipsos poll of 2,648 adults found that 65 percent of Americans described groceries as unaffordable, compared with 33 percent who considered them affordable. That view extended beyond lower-income households: groceries were described as unaffordable by 82 percent of adults earning under $50,000, 70 percent of those earning between $50,000 and $100,000, and 56 percent of those earning more than $100,000.

Earlier AP-NORC polling also illustrated the pressure shoppers were experiencing. In an August 2025 survey of 1,437 adults, 53 percent of adults said grocery expenses were a major source of stress, while another 33 percent described them as a minor source.

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