Can you guess where mom gets her news?

Mom: Where have you been all day?
A.: All over. The good news is, I have a fence.
Dad: Great! Do you like it?
A.: Yeah. It's taller than I expected, and not even on both sides because the ground isn't level, but it doesn't look wrong--I guess that happens all the time if there's an incline. They did a good job with it. It looks good.
Dad: Is it [Russian words I don't know] or [other Russian words I don't know]?
A.: I don't know what that means. I'll take a picture tomorrow when it's light out. Or you can come visit and see it in person.
Mom: That works. When are you going on your trip again?
Dad: [Laughs]
A.: [Rolls her eyes] We had this conversation yesterday.
Dad: May.
Mom: Well, so far there are no protests where you're going.
A.: Where I'm going already has relatively free elections.
Mom: That's not what the protests are about!
A.: They're not??
Mom: Of course not. They're being organized by some outside hand.
A.: If nothing else, that sounds very Middle Eastern.
Mom: I came to that conclusion independently.
A.: [Sigh]
Mom: But you're not going to any of those countries.
A.: No. There is some unease over rising food prices where I'm going...
Mom: So? Food prices are rising here, too.
A.: [Sigh]

This is analogous to when I say, "look how cute my friend's baby is" and my mother says, "so? you were a cute baby, too."

Mom: What?
A.: Food prices here are a much smaller proportion of people's income, even for most poor people. Most people here will still more or less be able to afford food. When food prices rise in very poor countries, people are shut out of food markets.

Why the f* am I explaining this to my mother? She grew up in a very poor country... during a food crisis. How does she not understand that having to pay another dollar for a package of pasta in the U.S., even for a family of four subsisting at the poverty level, is not the same as a poor family having to pay more for staple grains in any part of the developing world? This is not a rhetorical question. I am asking you: can anyone explain to me why this conversation transpired??