We live in a treat culture – and gen Z is splurging on snacks | Arwa Mahdawi

When times are hard, people opt for affordable luxuries. So should you splash out on that highly Instagrammable $19 smoothie?

The last time I happened to find myself in Los Angeles (which is not a place I often happen to find myself), I did what every visitor to La-La Land is now obliged to do: I went to the world's most zeitgeisty grocery store to gawp. Those of you familiar with Erewhon will already know exactly what I'm talking about. For those who don't: Erewhon is a high-end, celebrity-beloved supermarket that sells such things as $19 smoothies made with powdered beef organs and unpasteurised milk. TikTokers routinely flock there to spend small fortunes on fancy snacks and film themselves unpacking their hauls".

Erewhon is also, you might have noticed, a literary reference. The brand is named after a 19th-century satirical novel by Samuel Butler about a society full of beautiful people, where crime is treated indulgently and considered a sickness", but poverty and illness are criminalised. In Erewhon, people go to great lengths to appear healthy.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist