For a brief moment over the weekend, west suburban Hinsdale became the center of an internet viral moment involving inflation, burritos, wealth and privilege.
The scorn of social media users was focused on the lead anecdote of a Friday New York Times article about food inflation: A Hinsdale stock options trader voiced his annoyance with an increase in Chipotle’s burrito price. He walked out of the eatery after learning the price of a burrito was more than $9, when it previously hovered around $8.50.
The example was used to illustrate the choices Americans are making about their food consumption in light of widespread food inflation, but social media users pointed out that Hinsdale, with a per capita income of more than $101,000 and a poverty rate of less than 3%, is one of the wealthiest suburbs in the Chicago area. CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy, for example, tweeted “not parody” with a screenshot of the anecdote. Another user wrote: “Using a Hinsdale options trader to show the effects of the pandemic caused food price increases is quite the choice.”
