>even that dipshit tennis player. no way he survived this long and didn't die.

...The death rate was not 100% before vaccines.

Why would there need to be negotiation? Suppliers offer a price and consumers take it or leave it. Supply and demand causes the price to be set where both producers and consumers are satisfied. Of course the price does not, in itself, bring value. That's not at all what I'm saying. I'm saying that the value is implied by the price. No consumer would buy it unless they perceive that the value is greater than or equal to the price. So, the fact that they buy it tells us that the value is at least as high as the price.

Since producers and consumers agree on a price, we can deduce that the price is a value that is at least as much as the value to suppliers and no more than the value to consumers. So, while this does not capture consumer surplus, we can say that the value to consumers is at least this much.

The monetary value is a representation of how much value it brings consumers. That includes the value of calories, vitamins, minerals, flavor, general enjoyment, etc. Monetary value is a far richer metric than just calories.