America's love affair with the avocado
Mexico's unofficial culinary ambassador
I first discovered avocados during a childhood trip to Puerto Vallarta many years ago. Outside of fast food places like Taco Bell and Del Taco, I didn't know much about Mexican food. As a Utah kid transplanted to Southern California, I had never had nachos or even seen guacamole. So, when I asked my mom about the chunky green stuff that dotted the plate of nachos, she urged me to give it a try. I tried a little, reluctantly. Then a little more. Then a lot more. With those first bites of guacamole, my love affair with the avocado began, and I have never looked back. That love endures to this day.
It would appear that I am not alone. Americans love their avocados, especially in the ubiquitous guacamole that graces the tables of countless Mexican restaurants across the country.
We love them on nachos and tacos, and on burgers and omelets. We love them in burritos and on toast. In truth, we have never loved them more: American consumption has grown from 436 million pounds in 1985 to over 2.6 billion pounds in 2019.
Yet, even as COVID-19 dampens upcoming celebrations of the avocado — the 34th Annual Fallbrook Avocado Festival, set for April 19, was canceled; and the fate of the California Avocado Festival in Carpinteria, slated for October, is uncertain — it hasn’t quelled the American appetite for avocados.
After some initial COVID-related hoarding, most stores are well stocked, and avocados are widely available and fairly priced at most American markets. Restaurants may be closed or barely operational, and we may be subsisting on our own mediocre cooking, but we still crave avocados.
Close coordination among growers and importers, along with bumper California crops the last couple of years, has guaranteed a steady year-round supply of avocados across most of the country.
This has not always been the case. The journey of the modern avocado from nature to our plates spans millions of years and involves dinosaurs and eons of evolution and survival that largely predate humans.
Evidence of early human avocado consumption has been found in the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico, in the Coxcatlan Cave and other caves, dating back 9,000 to 10,000 years. Sometime between then and now, and likely in that same area, modern humans first consumed avocados. At some point, they even gave the fruit a name: “'āhuacatl,” the Nahuatl word for testicle.
Beginning in the 1500s, Spanish conquistadors turned āhuacatl into “aguacate.” English speakers then rendered aguacate as “avogato,” which phonetically resembles the Spanish word for lawyer, but that's the root of the modern word “avocado.”
The avocado was introduced to the United States in 1825, Florida in 1833 and California in 1856. Until 1915, the avocado was commonly referred to in California by the Spanish “ahuacate.” But that year, the California Avocado Association coined the novel term avocado. The rest, as they say, is guacamole.
However, California is where the American love affair with the avocado began in earnest. Whatever the exact day of the avocado’s arrival, or its method of transport, as long as it’s been in California, the state and its residents have been in love with it. And our love of the avocado is surely tied to our love of Mexican food.
The age of modern Mexican food in California began in the 1930s, with pioneering California establishments like the Cielito Lindo food stand on Olvera St., which is famous for its rolled, fried taquitos, covered in its house avocado sauce. These taquitos set the standard for all taquitos made outside of Mexico.
In the same way that Mexican cuisine conquered the southern U.S. border, from San Diego to Brownsville, the cuisine has gone on to influence the American culinary experience in all 50 states. What began in Mexico has made its way to the hearts and stomachs of those in California and beyond.
Avocados are now popular in Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. One Dutch importer says that avocados are among the most sought-after fruits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The avocado has played a crucial role in helping Mexican food gain a culinary foothold, not just from Seattle to Sarasota, but Bangkok to Brussels and Moscow to Melbourne. Mexican cuisine has filled stomachs and won fans worldwide.
Some might argue that the avocado is Mexican cuisine's secret weapon. If tacos and burritos and nachos are the foot soldiers of its culinary campaign, then the avocado is its amiable ambassador.
Can't handle spicy food? Try some guacamole and chips.