This Artist Made The World's Most Expensive Avocado Toast, But There's A Catch
In 2017, Tim Gurner — an Australian millionaire who made his fortune in real estate — had a theory about why it was millennials couldn't find the money to purchase a home. "When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn't buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each. We're at a point now where the expectations of younger people are very, very high," Gurner said to 60 Minutes Australia at the time (via The Guardian).
While Gurner's assessment might have been a major stretch, one millennial artist seems to have taken the sentiment about his generation's attachment to avocado toast to heart; he's also taken it to the next level by creating a sculpture called "Who Wants to Live Forever?"
Artist Tim Bengel's tribute to the ubiquitous avocado bagel involves two halves of a pumpkin bagel filled with five tomato slices, five onion rings, ten leaves of arugula, and five avocado strips. But if all that sounds both delicious and not terribly expensive to you, here's the catch: the entire treat is executed in more than 26 pounds of pure gold.
The world's most expensive avocado toast is inedible
Tim Bengel explained via press release that the solid gold sculpture was made from a 3D scan of a real avocado bagel. Before the incredible, inedible sandwich was revealed at Berlin Art Week, the honor of being the most expensive avocado toast ever belonged to a $100 avocado treat crafted by Burnt Crumbs in Huntington Beach, California back in 2017. That treat, which cost $100 at the time, featured mashed avocado, white truffles, and lobster poached in butter, tarted up and served with gold flakes. If you had wanted to order avocado toast without the pricey, fancy trimmings, you could be looking to pay anywhere from $18 to $31 in 2019 prices in order to enjoy the treat in New York City (via Card Cruncher).
But as you can imagine, "Who Wants to Live Forever?" costs squillions more than the Huntington Beach's special, $100 gold leaf avocado toast. With a price tag of $2.95 million or 2.5 million euros, this solid gold sculpture could, in fact, cover the cost of a new luxury home in many parts of the world today. Just don't try taking a bite out of it.