Smashed avocado on toast reaches staggering $30 price - as Aussie reveals how to guarantee a cafe doesn't serve up pre-packaged paste

By ASHLEY NICKEL, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 11:11, 21 July 2026 | Updated: 11:13, 21 July 2026 A fed-up Aussie has called out cafes for using packaged avocado as the price of her favourite brunch creeps towards $30 during the cost of living crisis. Clare Keenan shared a video earlier this month asking if she was 'over the top' in expecting her smashed avocado to be fresh.  'I think that cafes need to start normalising telling their customers when their avocado comes out of a packet and is pureed,' she said. 'I actually don't care if cafes use packaged avocado. I get that food's expensive and the cost of business is expensive. 'What I do care about is when I order a smashed avocado, paying anywhere between $25 to $30, and then get pureed packaged avocado without knowing.' Ms Keenan added she'd opt for another meal if she knew a cafe wasn't using fresh avocado.   'I don't like the taste, it doesn't taste like avocado and I've just wasted my money on something that I thought was avocado when it wasn't,' she said. 'Let me know if this is just a me problem, but I think that cafes need to start disclosing this.' This is my biggest café pet peeve #smashedavo #fakeavocado #café #smashedavocado #petpeeve Clare Keenan slammed cafes that use 'pureed, packaged avocado' instead of fresh avocado while charging high prices She later told Yahoo Lifestyle she'd made the video after going to a cafe in Newcastle and being served a brown-green paste. She'd spent nearly $30 and waited 20 minutes for the smashed avocado. 'I took a bite and just couldn't finish it,' Ms Keenan said. 'I didn't want to eat it. So I gave half of it to my husband, who would eat anything, but even he didn't finish it. 'It tasted acidic. I could tell immediately when I looked at it that I was going to be disappointed.' Hundreds of commenters under Ms Keenan's video agreed and called for cafes to disclose whether they used fresh avocado. 'They have the audacity to charge the same price as if they were using fresh avocado too,' one wrote.  'A friend of mine always asks for avocado sliced, not mashed, and I never knew why. THIS is why!' another said. Ms Keenan (above) shared a video after spending nearly $30 on an avocado toast made with packaged ingredients 'I used to work in a kitchen where we would use the packet avocado when fresh avos were out of season instead of taking it off the menu. It's not the same taste and I'm always disappointed when I'm served it,' another wrote. 'This is why I'm a cafe snob. I will simply not visit places that do this,' another said. Others shared their pet peeves with other packaged ingredients.  'Yes! The same when you ask if they make their hollandaise and they say yes, and it comes out tasting like TV static,' one wrote. 'And powdered egg too!' another said.