
America's Love Affair with Avocado - jkuria
https://www.economist.com/news/business/21735656-raising-production-meet-demand-will-be-tricky-droughts-storms-and-global-demand-tests
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beilabs
Afraid you have nothing on Australians affair with Avocado.

[https://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/article/2016/10/17/i-stopped-e...](https://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/article/2016/10/17/i-stopped-
eating-smashed-avocado-and-now-i-own-castle)

It's a staple of the Australian diet, fairly certain it's one of the 5 fruits
a day over there adorned on the walls of schools across the country. Seriously
though, I've seen Avocado go for $6 a piece.....those were hard times.

~~~
triggercut
Those following along in other countries should also know that, amongst
younger people, an Avocado is a typical house warming gift to friends who have
recently purchased a house. Which, when you stop and think about it makes even
less sense that the original proposition.

~~~
madeofpalk
> amongst younger people

> recently purchased a house

Doesn't match up.

~~~
gambiting
You realize that a lot of people don't live in hyper-expensive cities and
purchasing a house even in your early 20s is not a huge deal? Here in North
East of UK you only need about 10k for a deposit for a new house, it's hardly
impossible to save that much if you have a job. London, sure - it's almost
impossible. But not everyone lives in London.

~~~
madeofpalk
I was replying to a (tongue in cheek?) comment about young people, avocados
culture, and Australian home ownership. The assumption was this was
specifically referring to Sydney and Melbourne.

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nradov
Prices have also increased because the Phytophthora Root Rot fungal infection
has killed off whole avocado orchards in many areas.

[http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r8100111.html](http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/r8100111.html)

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pmorici
I don't understand how high avocado prices could cause Chipotle to loose
money. Guacamole is an optional add on why wouldn't they just raise the price
of the guacamole to reflect the market price of avocado or use avocado futures
to hedge their price risk.

~~~
philipodonnell
Raising prices for a chain like Chiptole is non-trivial. Think about all those
menu boards listing the price of adding guacamole, every one of those has to
be reprinted, distributed and posted. IT systems updated, etc.

Not saying they don't do stuff like that all the time, there's just more of a
lag between a commodity price rising and a chains ability to raise the price
of the end product.

These kinds of decisions are made over fairly long time frames. Someone will
be studying the likely effect of each possible price, others are forecasting
how long avocado prices might stay high. Lots of disagreements, oh Jim thinks
it will stay this high for a year, Mary says another month. Those things have
to get worked out before even the decision will be made.

It just takes time and it would have to hurt first (sounds like that day is
here), but they will eventually raise the price.

~~~
sciencesage
A lot of chains use TV sets to list item pricing now, so that would make it
easier. But I agree that it's usually not in the chain's best interest to
raise prices often

~~~
0xJRS
While I think they should, Chipotle does not use screens for their overhead
menus

------
Iv
Obligatory Oglaf :
[https://www.oglaf.com/incubus/](https://www.oglaf.com/incubus/)

~~~
jessaustin
_So_ much better than "obligatory" XKCD.

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PuffinBlue
It seems like in the 'West' we only get common access to the Hass Avocado.
Certainly in Britain anyway.

Having just done a stint in the Caribbean I'm never going to be able to
'enjoy' a Hass Avocado ever again.

Compared to whatever the exquisite orbs of heaven that are sold by the
roadside in Antigua they are simply not worthy of merit. It's like making a
pencil sketch of a lego recreation of the Sistine Chapel and claiming it can
in anyway approach the majesty of the 'real' thing.

For those adept at identifying varieties of Avocado, here's the one I'm
talking about:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkNUJjHJMXY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkNUJjHJMXY)

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mixmastamyk
Was proud to find out that the Haas avocado is from Southern California, where
I grew up eating them and guac on just about everything. Other states used to
make fun of that for years, implying we were all yoga hippies that put
avocados on our _salads_ FFS. Guess it’s finally caught on elsewhere.

Was pleased to find a great selection on a trip to New Zealand recently,
though kiwis still have trouble with the concept of guacamole and cal-mex
recipes in general. Stiil good with just a spoon and black pepper thankfully.

~~~
azinman2
Add some salt and lime juice, maybe ancho chili too :)

~~~
peferron
Or split it in half, fill the pit holes with vinaigrette, and eat it with a
spoon together with bread and butter. Had a lot of fun with that as a kid :)

~~~
magic_beans
I used to fill the pits with balsamic vinegar and chopped garlic and smear it
on rye toast. FANTASTIC.

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jcadam
Personally, I hate avocado in all its forms (guacamole, etc.). I don't
understand what people see, err, taste in them.

My wife, OTOH, loves avocados (I had never tried avocado before she forced me
to sample one while we were dating, which I ineptly pretended to sort of not
hate), and if I forget to buy several when I do the shopping, I'll find myself
trying to make up a story on the spot about how all the avocados at the
grocery store were rotten, or they were out. And then she gives me that "I'm
not buying it" look, sighs, rolls her eyes and stops speaking to me for a
whole five minutes.

EDIT: Ok... Wow, you know this _was_ an attempt at humor, so some of the
details may have been embellished a bit. I'll just back away from this thread
slowly.

~~~
simonsarris
This is a strange way to be mean to your wife? I don't get it. EDIT: sorry!
Somehow missed the "forget" part of the sentence.

I don't eat fruit, I don't like the taste. When I see dried mangoes, I buy
them for my girlfriend because she loves them.

~~~
PacifyFish
He forgot to buy them. He's not being mean, he's being human.

~~~
pdonis
Forgetting to buy them, yes, that's human.

Trying to cover up instead of just saying "Sorry, honey, I forgot", that's at
least tending toward mean.

~~~
khedoros1
People sometimes get unreasonable about the things that they love. I just
assumed that he was attempting to deflect her potentially unreasonable
reaction.

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axaxs
nearly $2.00 a piece wholesale? I'm curious why the market hasn't been flooded
by now.

*As pointed out below, it takes at least 5 years for an Avocado tree to produce fruit, which explains why there aren't quick adjustments.

~~~
msandford
What's the lead time on making an avocado tree? Not as bad as making more
programmers I'm sure, but it's not fast either.

~~~
kiith_naabal
You're not wrong - avocados planted from seed take anywhere from 5 to 13
years+ before they flower and produce fruit.

[http://ucavo.ucr.edu/general/answers.html](http://ucavo.ucr.edu/general/answers.html)

~~~
petecox
We have a compost bin in the back yard where they sprout from seed
spontaneously. I have grown a couple of trees and given some seedlings away to
friends.

Fingers crossed, they bear fruit eventually. If not, they make a fairly fast
growing tree (2m after 3-4 years) - although this week the leaves burn quickly
in the summer heat if inadequately watered.

~~~
magic_beans
I have a large avocado plant that I grew from a pit. At only 2.5 years old,
it's about 3 feet tall. Definitely won't be ready for fruit any time soon.
Maybe when my grandchildren are born (for the record, I do not yet have
children).

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njarboe
Large stands of avocado orchards around San Diego were not irrigated and died
during the last drought due to the expense of water. A bit of a shame
considering the time it take to get an avocado tree to produce. Some of the
groves were also quite old and the land ripe for development, so that might
have played into the decision of letting the orchards die.

~~~
Baeocystin
I lived across the street from one of those abandoned orchards at the time.
One 150' hose later, and the few trees I was able to rescue kept me, my
friends, and my family in avocados for several seasons. Still miss living in
that place.

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tchaffee
For those who like to eat a half avocado out of the shell with oil and vinegar
or other dressing in the hole, try a little soy sauce on its own. Amazing
combo.

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drawkbox
Avocado is a great substitute for mayo for losing weight, and in my opinion,
better tasting as well.

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ProfessorLayton
Avocados are delicious, and it seems that demand will continue to rise for the
foreseeable future, especially as Latinos become a larger portion of the U.S
population.

~~~
ramses
In addition to latinos and vegans, there is a likely explosion of ketogenic
eaters to come very soon, thanks to all the research pilling up about the
great benefits of being in ketosis.

Avocados are usually part of an omnivorous ketogenic diet.

~~~
cableshaft
Yeah, it's one of the staple superfoods for people on keto, usually. Gives
them lots of potassium and all sorts of other goodies that they're missing out
on by not eating most fruits.

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rsbartram
Because they are exotic. I lived in Brazil and Peru and they are 5 cents.
Fantastic!!!

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ben174
Not sure how this contributes to this thread, but I’m nearly 40 years old and
have never once tasted an avocado. I was born and raised in California but for
some reason I’ve always been repulsed by their appearance.

I’ll realize this is ridiculous and will probably get over this at some point.

~~~
conanbatt
You live in california and never ate guacamole? I don't think that's even
possible.

~~~
ben174
Hah yes trust me it’s hard to convince people it’s true.

~~~
conanbatt
I have more sympathy for flat-earthers than for never-guacs.

If you honestly don't recollect or havent tried it, do it, you will not regret
it!

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radium3d
Avocados make me feel good and taste delicious, so I eat them.

