I get it but I highly doubt most people actually do these expensive lunches daily. This is also not strictly speaking what is the text of the OP, assuming the text is correct he's questioning people getting a 28 dollar lunch full stop.

Also, food is 1/3rd of the things that keep you alive and healthy. Food taking up a large part of your money really isn't that wild. Things like rent taxes and utilities taking up more than half, that is wild, and really the only reason why 28 dollar lunches could be considered questionable on that income.

The world is also just what it is, incomes have been trailing behind inflation for a long time now. Because of these same people. I'm a cheapskate but I can't get my groceries under 150~200 a week for just myself and my wife. Not without sacrificing health at least, the only way to get cheaper is taking a deep dive into canned and/or highly processed food, but that just isn't happening.