There's also the aspect that, as the price goes up, the more it'll be cooked by more expensive/better chefs -- which presumably produce better food, or at least

There's also the aspect that, as the price goes up, the more it'll be cooked by more expensive/better chefs -- which presumably produce better food, or at least, better looking food (and if you believe in eating with your eyes, translates to better food) In which case, it does actually taste better as a group. It probably finds better recipes as more experienced cooks take a stab at it (whereas before, it was so low-class few would likely even consider doing anything with it beyond the simplest/cheapest combinations). These kinds of things are usually compounding, or even feedback loops; it's rarely useful to only look at a single step of impact. Though I wouldn't doubt cost isn't a part of the explanation (and ofc it goes the other way too -- good things made cheap, cheapen the perceived value. Perhaps they were also good when it was cheap... But cost was so low you wouldn't accept it as good-eatings)