I agree completely that eating gold flakes just to "spend money" is completely silly

I mean, why not just TAKE the gold flakes and save them if you really want to buy them? Why eat them and then just send them into your septic system?
I can understand paying good money for really good food. Paying ludicrous money for something with no taste at all just to say "I ate it!" seems silly to me. Especially, as others have said, that that same money could actually save a few lives.