Generation That Can’t Afford Houses Criticised for Spending Money on Food

A new wave of cultural criticism has identified the true cause of America’s housing crisis: a 24-year-old in North Carolina ordering sushi.

The phenomenon, known among researchers as “food guilt” and among everyone else as having dinner, has reached epidemic proportions among young Americans, with two thirds of consumers using a delivery app at least once in 2024 and Generation Z averaging five orders a month — roughly double the rate of Baby Boomers, who bought their houses before the market became structurally inaccessible and are therefore in a position to have opinions about this.

Half of Gen Z respondents in one survey admitted feeling embarrassed about their delivery spending, with some lying to friends and family about the total. This is the first generation in modern history to feel genuine shame about eating food in their own homes, a milestone experts attribute to a combination of rising fees, predatory app design, and a Fox News anchor who told viewers they could not complain about the cost of living while also ordering DoorDash, because apparently the correct response to stagnant wages and a broken housing market is to cook more lentils.

An influencer who spent $136 on a day’s meals became, briefly, the most hated person on the internet. The delivery apps that charged her a fee on every order, underpaid their drivers, and were subsequently fined $131 million by New York City for wage violations were not trending that week.

A marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon described food delivery as an “affordable luxury.” Economists noted that more Americans are actually spending more on groceries than delivery, meaning the entire moral panic is based on a misreading of Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which has not slowed the moral panic down.

The houses remain unavailable. The sushi, at least, shows up.