Why? Because there’s stuff we really need to know
CONTEXTUAL FACT
Think of it like palm oil on toast
Sorry about this one folks. We all love an avo, but the time has come to look the truth in the eye (we’ve been avoiding it for months!).
Avocados were relatively ok until they became a craze and we all decided we couldn’t live without them. Now called ‘Green Gold’ by growers, they are so lucrative that in Mexico - the largest producer in the world - it’s all that farmers understandably want to grow. The result? Wealth to a few, but also mass deforestation, exploitative working conditions and the attention of organized crime and drug cartels like the Caballeros Templarios. Are we funding decimated forests and high crime at brunch?
There’s other reasons to seriously think twice. Avocados are one of the most water intensive plants on the planet. In Chile for example, rivers and groundwater have dried up as avocado farmers install illegal pipes and wells to divert water to the crop. And because they’re grown as monoculture plantations (just like palm oil) it’s environmentally disastrous. Monocrops wreck local communities and biodiversity as well as the soil and are a pesticide cocktail. Plus of course, there’s the (often refrigerated) carbon heavy shipping.
Urgh.
So what can I do?
We don’t have to lead an entirely avocado-less life!
Here’s some easy shifts:
See it as a treat vs. the norm
When you buy, choose Fairtrade
Go for as close to home as you can (Spain, Israel etc)
Don’t waste the ones you buy. When they start to go too soft, whip them straight into a guacamole. Or did you know they freeze really well? Scoop out, put in a container, freeze. Defrost naturally when you’re ready.
Here’s some avo toast alternatives:
• Garlic and mushrooms
• Olive tapenade and red peppers
• Smashed banana
• Nut butters
• Pesto
We…
Aimee: I honestly eat avo and tomatoes on sourdough multiple times a week so I am gutted by this revelation!! My new goal is to pare it back to once a month instead. I do love garlic and mushrooms, hummus, pesto and the rest so I’ll suck it up and move on! To the greater good! (p.s. I appreciate this is the most first world problem to have.)
Sonia: It can feel a bit like we can’t eat anything any more, once you start digging under the surface. We’ve all got so used to having whatever we want, from wherever we want, turns out it almost always comes at a big planetary price. But it’s just depressing if I think of it as giving something up, especially as I love avo so much. So now I’m saying to myself I’m just relearning how to eat - locally and seasonally - and going with the 80 percent rule.
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“Not So Holy Guacamole”