aylavirginia
“Guac is Extra!”
If you are telling me that you do not like avocados, we might not be able to be friends. Okay, that was a bit extreme, but the avocado has now become such a fad food that it is taking over people’s lives. The amount of times in a day that you hear guac these days, compared to five years ago, has dramatically increased. Places like Chipotle and Moe’s have mainstreamed guacamole into the hearts and mouths of the everyday American. But, this isn’t a new food, or even a new concept to our neighbors to the south. The issue is that we have forgotten where this beautiful green fruit came from.
The avocado is more than one type of oily food. Avocados are good fatty oils for the body and absorption of other vitamins. They are also an “oily food” in the sense that they have to travel quite the distance to get to some of its favorite fans. Up here in the northeast, we are roughly 2,674.5 miles away from Mexico, where avocados are always in season. The average miles per gallon of an 18 wheeler, which is the typical transportation of produce to super markets, is 5.9 mpg (trickinginfo.com). With current gas prices being about $2 a gallon nationwide (money.cnn.com), we are looking at roughly $31,559.10 for one shipment of produce to come to New Hampshire from Mexico, not to mention all of the CO2 emission and burning of fossil fuels given off by those eighteen-wheelers.
Now for this history of guacamole, because America isn’t the founder of this lovely dip that can be put on just about anything and taste delicious. This zesty side dish has been around since the 1500s, originally created by the Aztecs and later popularized by the Spanish explorers. But it wasn’t until the 1940s that there were published recipes of guacamole (Gordon, 2012). Today if you type in the words “guacamole recipe” into google you get approximately 4,210,000 results in 0.58 seconds. Interestingly enough, the most common recipes are very similar to the original Aztec recipe. All you need is some avocados and some salt and pepper and you have yourself a very basic bowl of guac.
There are so many cultural insensitivities to Mexican food in general. Think of Cinco de Mayo in America. Cinco de Mayo is the celebration of Mexico’s victory over Napoleon’s French Army in the Battle of Puebla in 1862 (usatoday.com). In America we have created it to be a national day of drinking where we wear sombreros and fake mustaches. Not only is this totally disrespectful to an entire culture, it’s also just overall rude. So now America has claimed the Mexican food as their own, as well as their heritage, but just for one day.
America also has a great way of advertising Mexican foods for the public. Chain restaurants such as Taco Bell and Chipotle have changed or played up the Mexican phrases or culture to better benefit their sales. Taco Bell’s once famous Taco Bell Chihuahua hit the television screens in 1997-2003 as their mascot. The voice of the dog had a very think Mexican accent. The dogs breed, Chihuahua, is frequently associated with Mexico and the dog would often wear a sombrero. Many people saw this as a cultural stereotype, which it is, and some advocacy groups companied to end the reign of the dog as the symbol of the restaurant (snopes.com). Taco Bell is also an offender of O’s at the end of their made up menus and slightly disrespecting the Mexican language to better name their food items.
Other restaurants around the states play into the cultural appropriation with their décor of Mexican flags and colorful tiles when the owners and all of their workers are white Americans from Upstate New York. The fake authenticity of the restaurants are loved by the customers and benefit only Americans.
Other things like the packaging of guacamole seasoning found in the produce section of Wal- Mart would have Barbra Kingsolver and Michael Pollen turning their noses in disgust and walking the other way. Pollen talks all about convenience and Americans obsession of it. Of course people want to buy the pre-made little containers of Holy-Guac-Amole or if they are feeling very adventurous maybe the seasoning packet and two “fresh” avocados that traveled over 2,000 miles to get there so clearly they are not fresh. Once that is done the monies go into the pockets of the big corporations whereas the field workers of Mexico are left making barley livable wages.
This commercialization of avocados and guacamole have hit our homes and Americans believe that they are always in season. Take a look at the Avocados from Mexico’s slogan- “Where they are always in season”. Yes, they are always in season in Mexico, but this is North America! Kingsolver would be very disappointed in us, and probably wouldn’t even allow her children to eat avocados unless they were on a family vacation to Mexico and they harvested them themselves.
Avocados have hit our shelves and can barely stay on them. In 2000 “40 percent of all avocados sold in the United States were already grown outside of the country. By 2005, the percentage has risen to 67 percent. Last year, it was 85 percent.” (Washington Post). There is a huge market for these super fruits. Chin restaurants like Burger King, Panera Bread and Chipotle have mainstreamed them and increased the demand for them greatly.
Overall, no matter how amazing and tasty this food is, we as consumers are the ones in control of the market. If we do not demand the food, there will not be such a high need for them in this country. But, in true American fashion, we are going to turn our noses up at the issue and think that it is not our problem. Furthermore, we are covering our eyes at issues like fossil fuel usage to get these treats onto our family dinner tables.
“Avocados From Mexico Super Bowl 2016.” YouTube. YouTube, 08 Feb. 2016. Web. 18 May 2017.
“Gas prices by state.” CNNMoney. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 18 May 2017.
Gordon, E. “Who’s responsible for this spread?” Gainesville Guacamole: History. N.p., 2012. Web. 18 May 2017.
“How to Improve Fuel Efficiency on the Road.” How to Improve Fuel Efficiency on the Road – Articles – Drivers – Articles – TruckingInfo.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2017.
Jolie Lee, Special for USA TODAY. “Why do we celebrate Cinco de Mayo?” USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network, 05 May 2015. Web. 18 May 2017.
Lewin, Jo. “The health benefits of avocado.” BBC Good Food. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2017.
“Taco Bell Dog Death.” Snopes.com. N.p., 23 Oct. 2016. Web. 18 May 2017.