Millennials react to Bernard Salt’s attack on smashed avo

Under siege: smashed avocado on toast.

Who knew a humble slice of avocado toast could cause so much trouble?

Unless you have been hiding behind a rock since Saturday, you will be well aware of the outrage that Bernard Salt has provoked amongst young people.

In his The Weekend Australian Magazine column attacking “the evils of hipster cafes”, the demographer and Baby Boomer lashed out at “the youth of today” for their wasteful spending.

“I have seen young people order smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop and more,” Salt penned on behalf of “Middle-Aged Moralisers”.

“I can afford to eat this for lunch because I am middle-aged and have raised my family. But how can young people afford to eat like this?

“Twenty-two dollars several times a week could go towards a deposit on a house.”

His words have caused millennials to spit out their soy flat whites in disgust.

Bernard salt can pry my smashed avocado from my cold dead hands pic.twitter.com/4Pjz8y4aJG

— Simon R (@Rugbysmartarse) October 16, 2016

@BernardSalt is right of course, just give up $22 a week and you'll have a deposit on a median priced house in Sydney in... 175 years.

— Kyle Sheldrick (@K_Sheldrick) October 15, 2016

Skipped smashed avocado for breakfast this morning. Excited to buy a house next week.

— Tony Broderick 🙃 (@brod) October 16, 2016

I hope the state forcefully expropriates bernard salt's house and then beats him to death with avocado

— danyell ghoulan (@dannolan) October 15, 2016

The response has been so great that home lender ME bank has even launched a marketing campaign for its home loans with the words “Have your smashed avo and eat it too”.

@MarkDiStef @BuzzFeedOz giving up your smashed avocado in lieu of a home is not an option! https://t.co/0hKNkE7wPD pic.twitter.com/qKnLugft4X

— ME (@mebank) October 17, 2016

“I clearly touched the avocado zeitgeist in Australia,” a bemused Salt told The Australian this morning.

“You can say a lot of things about Generation Y — they are remarkably tolerant — but you don’t mess with their breakfast.”

Bernard is right. If the youngens want to own property they should quit eating smashed avocado and start eating the rich

— Michael Roddan (@MichaelRoddan) October 16, 2016

“Hey, Salt – your maths is wrong! Houses prices in Sydney have surged beyond the price increases of smashed avo …” https://t.co/qvewVuVvOo

— Brigid Delaney (@BrigidWD) October 17, 2016

Despite the dramatic response, Salt says he is pleased to have inspired such debate, and hopes action can come out of it to spark better affordability in the housing market for young people.

“Australia works better when everyone believes they have the opportunity to buy a house if they want to.”

Don’t miss Bernard Salt’s full response to the avocado furore this Saturday in The Weekend Australian Magazine.