Senator Leans Into the Avocado Toast Trend With One Major Reservation

When Senator Orrin Hatch took to the Senate floor on Monday to deliver comments on antitrust law, he decided to make the usually-dry topic a bit more appealing by bringing some culinary references into the mix. Namely, he served up a mention of the ever-popular avocado toast.

“We keep our markets fresh by keeping our doctrine current. But I would, as an old Republican must, urge caution, especially to some of the more zealous advocates for reform, hipster or otherwise,” he said. “I’ll gladly sample the avocado toast. I really will. But nobody should get the idea we’ve moved on from the meat and potatoes. For it’s easy, with the benefit of hindsight, to critique past precedent formed in the familiar image of the mass industrial process. It’s far harder to refashion doctrine for a new age that’s still evolving in surprising ways.”

In other words, while the Republican from Utah is apparently willing to taste-test one of the trendiest foods around, he’s not quite sold on fully replacing his more traditional meal choices with the brunch staple. As one astute Twitter user and Senate observer noticed, this was the first time in the congressional record that “avocado toast” has ever come up, based on a search of the body’s digital archive. Only time will tell if our policymakers decide to give further thoughts on popular eating habits, or if the rest of them are still pleased with meat and potatoes as well.

The analogy that Hatch was trying to draw between avocado toast and his position on antitrust law is a little more complex, though. He’s previously gone after Microsoft and more recently Google for their business practices, but Hatch stops short of what’s been branded the “Hipster Antitrust” approach. He’s even made great efforts to publicly disassociate his name from the label “hipster” on the Senate floor. In the meantime, the debate rages on.

At least avocado toast is not as divisive.