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The Rise of Avocados

(written for Yucatan Guacamole - 2019)


Avocados have been around since before humans, but you’ve probably noticed a spike in their popularity in the past couple decades. A few things have contributed to the rise of avocados, but the biggest one was a PR stunt during Superbowl XXVI by the California Avocado Commission.

They decided it was time that avocados reached the American dinner table and they did this by taking over the Super Bowl. Since chips and dip were already a Super Bowl favorite, all they had to do was find their way into that market.

Their solution? Guacamole!

Guacamole had been made familiar through Mexican cuisine, but hadn’t yet ventured into American gastronomy. The California Avocado Commission came up with an idea, using the play on words “Guacamole Bowl”, having players on both teams submit their favorite guacamole recipes that would go head to head at the same time that the Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills faced each other on the field. Rather than seeing how many yards the recipes could run, they let the American people vote on their favorite.

This was a time before social media influencers, so the influencers of the time were the players, coaches, sports reporters, and news outlets. The California Avocado Commission hooked everyone up with samples of guacamole so they could advertise them throughout the media. Guacamole got widespread coverage that popularized it far beyond the Super Bowl.

It was a touchdown for avocados!

To this day, Super Bowl weekend still holds the record for most pounds of avocados consumed by Americans, reaching 105 MILLION pounds each year! And the numbers keep growing!

 

It was this spike in guacamole popularity that lead to the rise of avocados. During the low-fat diet craze of the 1980’s, doctors discouraged the consumption of avocados because they have high levels of fat, but it wasn’t until the turn of the century that nutritionists began to distinguish between saturated / trans fats (“bad fats”) versus monounsaturated fats (the good kind that are in avocados). It was revealed that avocados aren’t as unhealthy as people originally thought, in fact, they’re actually good for you!

Apart from containing the good kinds of fats, they also have tons of other health benefits. In an avocado, you can find vitamins C, E, K, & B-6 as well as more potassium than a banana! They provide a ton of fiber to keep you full and chefs love to cook with them because their creaminess can balance out the acidity and spiciness of other ingredients. As people learn more about avocados and their healthy qualities, the demand has grown.

Though suppliers have mostly been able to keep up with the demand for avocados, the price remains high, so avocados are seen as a “luxury item” and they are marketed that way as well. At restaurants and eateries across the country, people are familiar with the idea that “guac is extra”, meaning there’s an additional charge to add avocados or guac, unlike other toppings.

Cultures all over the world want to take credit for the creation of avocado toast, but it was recently popularized in 2013 by Gwyneth Paltrow. As the concept of “clean-eating” was gaining traction, Paltrow released her best-selling cookbook, It’s All Good, featuring avocado toast as one of the main components. Along with the healthy toast combo, Gwyneth was selling the idea of “the California Lifestyle”, an enviable dream of plant-based healthy living and where golden tanned bodies stay active in the sunshine year-round. It continued to glamorize avocados as a luxury for the rich and famous, but they were actually accessible to a lot of people and they started to realize it!

The idea of smashed avocado on a slice of toast grew into an instagrammable phenomenon where the possibilities were limitless. People began adding toppings of all kinds, from bacon and eggs to radishes and chili flakes, going as far as putting blueberries and fresh mint on top of their buttery avocado slices. As time went on, people have started to realize the potential that avocados and guacamole hold and there are some crazy creative creations out there –check our recipes page to see a few!!

Emma Schlichting