Avocado toast seems to have become a ‘thing’ for Millennials. I don’t remember when this happened, but I’m thinking about ten years ago. Avocado toast being a ‘thing’ amuses my wife because she’s been eating avocado toast since she was a kid. Me too.
I’ve told these stories before: In the '80s I worked at Edwards AFB. Wednesdays were Mexican Food Day at the O Club. The woman behind me in line, who was from the East Coast, was perplexed by the huge, freshly-made, bowl of guacamole. She didn’t know what it was, or how to eat it. I pointed out the fresh, warm tortilla chips nearby. On another occasion, I was at the NCO Club and ordered a cheeseburger with avocado. The woman at the window said, ‘You must be from California.’ I said I am, and asked how she knew. She said, ‘Only Californians put avocados on their sandwiches.’ (I’ll note that even today, a burger with avocado is often called a ‘California burger’.)
So. I’m wondering whether people in the Midwest or the East Coast* before about ten or so years ago, just didn’t have access to avocados? Then the supply became more widespread in the around 2010-2012 and the Millennials discovered avocado toast?
* I know Florida is on the East Coast, and they grow avocados there; but they’re watery and horrid, unlike the Haas avocados we grew up with.
My mother put avacados in her salads in the 1970s (east coast). I started seeing avocado toast everywhere for the first time around 10 years ago, as you note.
I know someone who moved to California from the Midwest around 1980 just for the avocados. As a 60 year old Californian, avocados have been as common as apples since I can remember.
To be fair, as omnipresent as they were growing up, I never thought about putting them on toast until it became a “thing”. Sandwiches, salads, guacamole. Sure. But toast was usually butter and jam. It’s only the last dozen years or so since I started eating toast topped with avocado, slices of boiled egg, and everything bagel seasoning.
Not only that, but it was the color of the inside of the avocado before you put it in the fridge. After is a really gross brown…which was also a popular color for appliances in the ‘60s.
Yah, the only thing new about all this was the idea to put a fried egg on top of the whole thing, and dash with some Mexican hot sauce. That’s my new go-to comfort breakfast now.
I had a business trip to LA last year. The hotel had a limited menu for room service. One of the oh three things available was…avocado toast! I’m like, WTF? Who came up with this?
They obviously weren’t unheard of even in the UK in the 60s, considering my parents glaring ‘avocado’ bathroom suite.
I also distinctly remember my mother’s go-to starter at dinner parties in the 80s being prawns and sliced avocado.
God knows when we started putting it on toast. But it is lovely with a poached egg. I wonder if the real craze started when someone suggested they were a super food?
I benefit greatly from Mrs. J.'s distaste for avocados. When we go out to a Mexican restaurant and they put avocado slices in her taco or chicken salad, she always shovels it over to me.
Never had any interest in spreading avocado on toast, though.
Putting avocados in the refrigerator shows your naivete. They don’t belong there. Let them turn that loathsome brown on the counter. Or don’t cut them until you want to eat them. They do not keep, cut. Lemon juice will delay the browning for awhile.
My wife told me this morning she’s decided she doesn’t like guacamole. ‘If it’s a good avocado, it doesn’t need tomatoes and onions and all that other stuff.’ She makes avocado dip with avocados, mayo, and garlic powder. I like both.
no. They are tropical (really, subtropical). They should be held at room temperature like other such fruits. Do you put tomatoes in the refrigerator? Bananas?
I never have put any fruit in the fridge, really. I know it’s a thing in benighted non-californian areas.
