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MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2017
the
Football
issue
A
vocados are having a moment.
From fantastical, photographic,
hashtagged caprices on Instagram
to the springing up of “avocado toast” on
menus coast to coast and appearances on
countless “top ten nutritional superfoods”
lists; from moving past guacamole to being
the featured ingredient in such dishes as
soup (chilled, mostly, but occasionally hot),
salads, bowls, sandwiches galore, smoothies,
green drinks and milkshakes, even dessert
—puddings! pies! ice cream! — the avocado
is right smack dab in the middle of its 15
minutes of fame.
If you want proof, go to Brooklyn, New
York, the borough felt by many (certainly
its residents) to be the epicenter of hip,
where the Avocaderia, “the world’s first
avocado bar …for your indulgence, for your
well-being,” is located. You can start with
a “Chill out” (avocado on multigrain bread,
with chili flakes), groove to “Beets & blue”
(an avocado mash salad with beets, arugula,
blue cheese and arugula), have a smoked
salmon “Avoburger” for your main course,
and conclude with an Avocado “chocolate
mousse.”Who could ask for more …except
those who might like a little less.
And yet, if avocados are having a moment,
one is tempted to ask, what’s time to
an avocado? After all, remains found in
what is modern-day Peru carbon-date the
avocado to nearly 15,000 years of age. At
that point, avocados were wild, gathered
by our forebears in frost-free, subtropical
climates throughout Central America and
into present-day California. But after about
10,000 years of gathering avocados (which
are, by the way,members of the laurel family,
which also contains such culinary stars as
bay leaf and cinnamon), human beings said,
“Enough is enough,” and started growing
the fruit themselves.
Either way, that’s an awfully long time
and distinguished history for something
that’s ending up in the preciously named
“Quinoa & friends” (another Avocaderia
offering, with fashionable ingredients
du
jour
: avocados with kale, fennel and quinoa
— cooked
and
puffed quinoa, no less).
Surely avocados deserve less trendiness.
Ripe for the
Pickin’
by
Crescent Dragonwagon