# Avocado toast **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [March 23, 2023, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550 "2023-03-23T16:22:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/21 "2023-03-23T17:31:44Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Putting avocados in the refrigerator shows your naivete. I never said I did. Just commented that avocados in the fridge are gross. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/22 "2023-03-23T17:32:32Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I never said I did. Just commented that avocados in the fridge is gross. Ah. Well that is so. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/23 "2023-03-23T17:35:43Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > no. I think the joke was referring to avocado-colored refrigerators. … or I’m being whooooooshed, too; always a possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/24 "2023-03-23T17:36:36Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > > Whoosh? > > 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. The whoosh is that the reference was to the avocado _color_ of refrigerators in the 70s. We had one, and it matched the oven and dishwasher. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/25 "2023-03-23T17:44:37Z")
I remember distinctly the first time I heard of “avocado toast”. I was visiting a friend in Seattle in 2008. Walked past a busker on the street who was playing songs and telling jokes, and offering a bit of banter for tips. He abruptly said “you know what’s good on toast? Avocado.” And a crowd of people went “whoaaaaaaaa that’s genius” and tipped him a buck or two. So, Seattle in 2008, a number of folks felt like avocado toast was a valuable innovation to learn about. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/26 "2023-03-23T18:10:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > 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.’ Guacamole doesn’t need to have tomatoes at all. But I will usually put a bit of lime and salt in it. Maybe garlic. Maybe not. It doesn’t have to be an avocado + pico de gallo dip. I personally do not like tomatoes in my guac, as it waters down the avocado flavor, but I do like the accents some other ingredients can add. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/27 "2023-03-23T18:10:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > 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. I’m sorry, I’m sure your wife is a wonderful person, but on the one hand she claims that guac is junked up with too much stuff, and on the other hand she makes a dip by mixing avocados, mayo and garlic powder?!? Does not compute. Good guacamole to me is keeping it very simple: avocados, one or two cloves raw garlic minced as fine as possible; salt, and lime juice. Mash lightly until mixed but avocado is still chunky. Maybe, _maybe_ give it a dusting of cayenne pepper on top for color and a tiny bit of heat. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/28 "2023-03-23T18:14:03Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Good guacamole to me is keeping it very simple: avocados, one or two cloves raw garlic minced as fine as possible; salt, and lime juice. Mash lightly until mixed but avocado is still chunky. Maybe, _maybe_ give it a dusting of cayenne pepper on top for color and a tiny bit of heat. Tomatillos and jalapenos go well in guacamole. Onions would be okay. But mayo? No way, Sour cream, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/29 "2023-03-23T18:23:22Z")
I think there is a difference between plain mashed avocado and guacamole. My mashed only has a little salt and fresh ground pepper, and even those extras are optional - that’s what goes on the toast (grainy whole wheat only) under the egg. Guac has whatever add-ins that float your boat beyond that - and is to be used with all Mexican dishes as well as scooped with tortilla chips (essentially a meal all by itself!). Of course sliced has a place here: a good, fat, ripe one sliced and sprinkled with a little salt, and a fork. Simple pleasure. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/30 "2023-03-23T18:24:26Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > (I’ll note that even today, a burger with avocado is often called a ‘California burger’.) When as a teen we moved to Reading, Pa. I took a summer job in a local sandwich shop. One afternoon a guy ordered a ‘California Burger’ which was not on the menu. I sidled over to the woman at the grill, who’d worked there for years, and asked quietly, “What’s a California Burger?” Knowing I was just there from California she almost dropped her spatula. “It’s with lettuce and tomato. What do you call them in California?” “… A deluxe hamburger?” Another place in town used the term for one with mayo and sliced black olives which made more sense to me. Avocado or guac I didn’t see until decades later. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/31 "2023-03-23T18:29:02Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I sidled over to the woman at the grill, who’d worked there for years, and asked quietly, “What’s a California Burger?” > > Knowing I was just there from California she almost dropped her spatula. “It’s with lettuce and tomato. That’s what some old diner menus here in Chicago call or called it on their menus. Those diners may be gone by now, but I learned “California burger” to mean “burger with lettuce and tomato” back in the 80s at those places. By the 90s or so, “California” more conjured up to me something involving avocado or just general culinary weirdness. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/32 "2023-03-23T18:44:20Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Knowing I was just there from California she almost dropped her spatula. “It’s with lettuce and tomato. What do you call them in California?” > > “… A deluxe hamburger?” > [@pulykamell](#): > > but I learned “California burger” to mean “burger with lettuce and tomato” back in the 80s Now I’m wondering what they call a [chili size](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chili-size/532207) in the Midwest? If they call it a ‘chili burger’, what do they call the closed sandwich? **pulykamell:** I’ve never heard of a ‘California burger’ that didn’t have avocados on it, or at least guac. That someone was calling a regular burger that in the '80s is a little mind-boggling. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/33 "2023-03-23T18:48:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > **pulykamell:** I’ve never heard of a ‘California burger’ that didn’t have avocados on it, or at least guac. That someone was calling a regular burger that in the '80s is a little mind-boggling. A “regular” burger, at least here in Chicago growing up, did not have that frou-frou vegetable crap on it, dammit. (OK, some national fast food did, but like the local hot dog stand burgers did not typically come with lettuce and tomato.) “Chili size” is an unheard of term here, as far as I know, unless some enterprising Californians brought it our way. My first experience with the term, according to your linked thread, was in 2005 and my second in 2010, here on this board. An open-faced chili burger maybe? To me, asking what do you call a “chili size” in the Midwest is like asking what do you call a [“Horseshoe sandwich”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_sandwich) out in Cali. I wouldn’t expect a local term there, as it’s a regional dish. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/34 "2023-03-23T18:52:59Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > The whoosh is that the reference was to the avocado _color_ of refrigerators in the 70s. We had one, and it matched the oven and dishwasher. I knew that, I just ignored it. We not only had avocado appliances, we had a rust shag rug. Yes. Shag rugs, where civilizations of dirt, fleas, and tiny pieces of the detritus of a large family of children dwelt. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/35 "2023-03-23T18:58:15Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > An open-faced chili burger maybe? I think I worded that poorly, but I see you got it. I’ve noticed that here in Western Washington, the open-faced burger is what I grew up with as being a chili size. And now that I’m thinking of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen what I grew up with known as a chili burger – i.e., closed-face burger with chili – up here. Someone must have them, but I’ve never encountered one. All my life, some places put salad on their burgers, and some didn’t. I may, dimly, recall a burger with salad being called a ‘deluxe’ burger (like Taco Bell or wherever calls their burritos ‘deluxe’ if they have lettuce and tomatoes in them), but ISTM that dressed burgers were either undifferentiated (you tell them what you want on your burger), or they had a specific branded name (e.g., ‘cheeseburger’ vs. ‘Whopper’). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/36 "2023-03-23T19:00:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I think I worded that poorly, but I see you got it. I’ve noticed that here in Western Washington, the open-faced burger is what I grew up with as being a chili size. And now that I’m thinking of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen what I grew up with known as a chili burger – i.e., closed-face burger with chili – up here. Someone must have them, but I’ve never encountered one. I suppose it’s possible one of the diners had something like that on the menu. The old diner places usually had a “hot sandwiches” section of the menu which had open faced sandwiches like a hot beef, hot ham, hot turkey, usually served with mashed potatoes and gravy. I’m pretty sure I’ve seem either a meatloaf and/or hamburger there, so it wouldn’t surprise me too much if somebody figured out pouring chili over it, but it’s not a concept I’m personally familiar with outside these boards. They did often have regular ol’ “chili burgers” though as closed sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/37 "2023-03-23T21:37:18Z")
My mom moved to California from Ohio during WWII. She loved to tell the story about wanting to try an avocado, which she’d never eaten before. So, she went to the local market and picked out the firmest avocado she could find. She was very disappointed! I was born here, so I grew up with avocados. Eaten just about any way with just about anything. As for chili size, I grew up with it being a bowl of chili with a hamburger patty in it. A burger and bun with chili would just be a chili burger. And, yeah, California burger means with avocado. Lettuce and tomato is normal. Otherwise, it’s just a dry bun with a plain patty of ground beef? ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/38 "2023-03-23T21:45:22Z")
I grew up in the “Rancho Cucamonga” area before it was incorporated, and in the 1950’s there were avocado groves. Been eating avocados for 70+ years. Yeah, I’m old! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/39 "2023-03-23T21:51:57Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Otherwise, it’s just a dry bun with a plain patty of ground beef? Well, you put onions, pickles, mustard, ketchup. But, no lettuce or tomato by default. I mean, look at a basic burger from McDonald’s, and isn’t the regular Wendy’s hamburger just the above toppings, no lettuce or tomato. I usually don’t put lettuce and tomato on my burger unless I’m on the West Coast at In n Out or something. It’s usually a sad leaf of lettuce and a tomato that apparently has been engineered to suck all the flavor out of it. I don’t need/want a salad on my burger most of the time. Hell, even Chick Fil A (I know, a different type of hot meat sandwich) doesn’t put lettuce and tomato on their standard chicken sandwiches, only the deluxe. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550/40 "2023-03-23T21:58:44Z")
I don’t eat at McDonald’s. That’s my idea of a bad burger. I like a little crunch and juice that lettuce gives without overwhelming the other flavors. I can’t remember ever getting a “sad leaf of lettuce.” No ketchup. Yuck – fresh tomato is better. Pickles only if they’re sour. I like grilled onions, but not every place has them, so I’ll avoid raw onions because I have gotten overpowering onions that blast all the flavor out of everything else in the burger – even the patty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avocado-toast/981550.md?page=3)