"Do you like avocados?"
"Do you eat avocados every day?"
Avocado for me, not to hate, not to like, have eaten a few times avocado sushi, but Bought to eat only 2 times, it can be said that the avocado this food is strange, but often listen to the mother around the mother friends to mention, because she often gives her children to eat imported avocados, while complaining that the price is too expensive, while feeling that the nutritional value is high and grit your teeth to buy for children to eat.
A lot of people have the same attitude towards avocados as I do, it hasn't become our mainstream fruit.
When we were still hesitant to buy or not, avocados have been popular in other countries for a long time. In particular, Western countries, where the United States is the country with the largest importer of avocados, imports far exceeded that of second-placed Germany in 2019.
In our country, although most people are not obsessed with avocados, it is undeniable that the share and popularity of avocados in life is rising. Avocado jam, avocado desserts, avocado dishes, as well as the fashion industry's avocado green, as well as other avocado peripheral products, have entered our lives.
Junk food, or a healthy lifestyle?
The most controversial aspect of the avocado is its nutritional content.
It's a peculiar food, as a fruit, it has no juice, it's not sour or sweet to eat, it's greasy like cream when bitten down, some people describe it, like eating a bite of "frozen lard."
Saying that it is "lard", in fact, is very appropriate, the fat content of avocado can reach 15.3%, which is a fairly high-fat fruit.
In the 80s, when the United States promoted a low-fat healthy diet, so-called experts labeled this high-fat food as "junk food", believing that it was the same as fried chicken fat.
"Junk food" can be said to be the biggest misunderstanding of avocados.
Unlike ordinary fats, avocados contain a large number of high-quality fats - unsaturated fatty acids, which are indispensable to the human body, in addition, they are also rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, and are a fruit with high nutritional value.
Despite the fact that avocado dealers have also placed a lot of advertisements to promote the health benefits of avocados, the attitude of the public is still lukewarm, and the sales of avocados have plummeted, which is a world of difference from the current pandemic situation.
What happened in the middle that the avocado regained its sought after status?
Perfect strategy to turn things around
This starts with the history of avocados.
Scientists believe that avocados originated in Africa, then spread to North America, and then to Central America.
Among the paintings left behind by the Aztecs in North America are traces of avocados. At that time, people liked to eat avocado and corn together, because the avocado and the human male reproductive organs resembled the shape, in the Aztec language, the avocado was originally called "testicle", according to the principle of form complement, of course, it was also endowed with the effect of "aphrodisiac", and the paired avocado became a symbol of love and reproduction.
Later, when the Spaniards came to the Americas, they knew about this fruit, and renamed this fruit "avocado", believing that this fruit tasted like butter, had high nutritional and medicinal value, so they brought this fruit to all over the world.
Geographical expansion, but avocado acceptance has been mixed.
On the one hand, people don't know how to eat it, and on the other hand, the label that mentions "junk food" at the beginning has led to a fall in the price of avocados.
To turn things around, the California Avocado Growers Association turned to VTECH for help and made adjustments.
First of all, do not deny the fact that avocados are high in fat, and on this basis, position avocados as a source of high-quality fatty acids that are indispensable for healthy weight loss;
Secondly, increase the price of avocados, position avocados as high-end fruits, attract many celebrities to become loyal fans of avocados, and publicize them;
Third, launch the image of Mr. Avocado, participate in reality shows, and make avocado-related foods for ordinary citizens;
Fourth, target advertising for sporting events. In 2015, at the Super Bowl, $4.5 million was placed in a 30s ad promoting the wonderful combination of cornflakes and guacamole.
The results were so good that on The Super Bowl Sunday alone, the avocado sold 47 million kilograms in the form of jam.
In the next two decades, avocados were gradually accepted by the world and became mainstream, becoming healthy "superfoods".
Can avocados really lose weight?
There is no direct equivalence between the two, it can only be said that avocado has a lot of high-quality nutrients, in the emphasis on "eat less but eat well" in the concept of weight loss, avocado is in line.
But after all, the fat content is high, and the energy of 100g of avocado is about 161kcal, which is very high in calories.
Whether it is useful for weight loss depends on how you eat, not eating avocados to lose weight, the two are completely different.
Negative effects of avocado fever
Avocados are popular, and the direct profiteers are certainly farmers who grow them, but when the avocado industry is popular and the prospects are bright, the dark side of the industry is gradually emerging.
At the end of 2018, some Michelin chefs referred to avocados as "mexico's blood diamonds" and refused to sell avocado foods in restaurants.
Most of the world's avocados come from Mexico, and the special environment allows Mexican avocados to be supplied all year round.
At the time of the avocado fire, the high price and large export volume made many merchants earn a lot of money, which made the local gangsters very red-eyed, disguised charges, robbed avocados, and smoked... Using various means to control the farmers and sales, at that time the avocado also had a title of "green gold", a fruit that was faster than the crime to get money.
The avocado fever has also attracted the attention of other countries, and many people have planted avocados in the hope of getting a piece of the avocado economy.
However, avocado trees cannot be grown anywhere.
The cultivation of avocados requires a lot of fresh water, and according to statistics, growing an avocado requires about 70 liters of surface or groundwater, excluding rainfall and moisture in the soil. It requires 3 times more water than apples and 18 times that of tomatoes.
Mexico can still bear it, but it is also full of holes. But like some places in Africa, in order to make money, they also follow the seeds.
Destroying forests to grow avocados and making extensive use of fresh water are the two biggest negative effects of avocado fever on the environment.
In general, avocados are not wrong, scams are not counted, people who eat them are not wrong, and people who like or plan to try avocados do not need to have too much psychological pressure.
The only thing worth reflecting on should be the unscrupulous businessman for the sake of profit.