Viral $19 Strawberry Proves How Out Of Touch Influencers Are

If you know anything about the LA-based grocery store chain Erewhon, you probably know that it's super expensive. You may end up spending $10 on a gallon of milk or $12.50 for 4 ounces of kale chips (which you could easily make at home with this recipe). These examples are already outrageous, but an even more egregious Erewhon trend has emerged among influencers: Paying $19 for a single strawberry.

As reported by Food & Wine, these pricey strawberries hail from Elly Amai, a luxury Japanese vendor, and are packaged individually. Each strawberry is placed on a soft cushion and covered by a plastic dome. These strawberries are of the Tochiaika variety and are grown in the Tochigi prefecture of Japan. After they're harvested, they arrive at Erewhon within two days so that they're sold at peak ripeness. The berries are meant to be perfectly sweet, with no acidic notes whatsoever.

In one video, which has over 1 million likes and over 11,000 comments, TikTok user @alyssaantocii showed off the $19 strawberry and tried it on camera. Almost immediately, they called it "the best strawberry [they've] ever had." In another video, TikTok user @janemukbangs revealed that they bought two of the expensive item, and already their car smelled like fresh strawberries. After trying them, however, they said they were delicious but weren't worth the hefty price.

No matter what influencers end up saying about the strawberry — even if they declare that it isn't worth the price tag — they're still flaunting the ultra-expensive piece of fruit. After all, grocery prices have increased a whopping 31% over the past six years (per NerdWallet), and a Swiftly survey conducted at the end of 2024 revealed that 7 in 10 Americans struggle to afford groceries (via Blue Book). Because of this, according to Swiftly, consumers have resorted to buying products based on what's on sale, and many shoppers have stopped buying snacks. In other words, the majority of Americans are far from indulging in a single $19 strawberry.

Of course, not all influencers use their content to show off unaffordable luxury items at Erewhon — some choose to focus on buying groceries on a budget, while others discuss how much more affordable Trader Joe's is than some other outlets. Still, the millions of likes and thousands of comments these Erewhon-focused videos receive really put into perspective how much attention is paid to trends that the majority of Americans can't participate in themselves.