A Grand Unified Theory of Avocado Toast

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/a-grand-unified-theory-of-avocado-toast

by hprotagonist • 9 years ago

58 111 9 years ago

I don't think I've ever seen an avocado in person. I was shocked to discover my apparent obsession with something I've never experienced was why I couldn't afford a house.

hox• 9 years ago

You've never been to a grocery store? Avocados are by no means exotic...

rainbowmverse2• 9 years ago

I doubt the grocery stores carry many around here if they do at all. They probably blend in with all the other greens. I'll check for them next time I'm at the store.

Walmart's online stock search returns no avocados for the local store, so I doubt the smaller grocery stores have them: https://www.walmart.com/store/520/search?query=avocado

IvyMike• 9 years ago

Remember, "exotic" depends on where you live. If you watch Iron Chef, the original one from Japan, you'll see whenever they have a dish with avocado, the guest judges always proclaim "Avocado! How Exotic!"

Even within the US the availability varies widely.

PebblesHD• 9 years ago

As someone who has seen, and regularly consumes avocados for no more than about $2.50 per fruit, I too am a bit confused about what relationship this has with my inability to afford a $250,000 deposit on a Sydney 1 bedroom apartment.

wyldfire• 9 years ago

What part of US sells avocados for $2.50? Sounds steep. ...or are those AUD not USD?

girvo3• 9 years ago

I'm more having a quiet giggle about what appears (from here in Australia) to be a rather noticeable wave of media coverage and memes from the US regarding "Smashed avo on toast"!

My girlfriend will violently disagree with me, but I think avocados are a bit ick really, and yet affording an actual _house_ anywhere near where work is is basically an impossible dream for nearly everyone I know... and my being able to afford one has nothing to do with my breakfast habits (or frankly, the fact I skip breakfast everyday)

cylinder• 9 years ago

The reference is to cafes, not making it at home. Aussie cafes charge like $20 for avo toast and millennials line up to pay it.

vacri5• 9 years ago

$250,000 deposit on a Sydney 1 bedroom apartment.

Median house price in Sydney is 1.1M. Generally you need to put down a 10% deposit in AU. Just how fancy is this $2.5M 1-bedroom apartment you're looking to buy, that it's worth twice a median house?

Houses here are ridiculously expensive, yes, but let's keep it real.

nkozyra2• 9 years ago

Can I ask where you live? In the Americas avocado is fairly ubiquitous and for good reason: it's a relatively unique fruit that's high in fat, very flavorful, works on its own or as a condiment.

My advice is - if you've never seen one in person count your blessings. I could easily spend $200/month on avocados alone.

lwansbrough• 9 years ago

Why on Earth would you need to eat 3 avocados a day?

myhf• 9 years ago

Why on Earth would you need to eat 3 avocados a month?

deckar01• 9 years ago

This article is bizarre. It starts off with a story that fails to justify why avocado toast is relevant, meanders through personal antecdotes, then drones on about the history of advocados in the US. Pass.

hwillis2• 9 years ago

Today, nine out of ten imported avocados in the U.S. are from Mexico.
A politics of avocadoism is intrinsic to this history. If you worry about the eclipse of American agriculture—or the market effects of cheap, distance-shipped produce—you’d be right to regard this international trade with disgust.
If, on the other hand, you celebrate competitive international trade and cosmopolitan access, the avocado is a fruit of heroism.

The point that the author is making is that the "anti-avacado" sentiment is a result of anti-urban and anti-globalization/anti-globalist sentiment. It's something that cities have more access to, is relatively new, and is imported from mexico. Its a partisan division.

colanderman5• 9 years ago

nine out of ten imported avocados in the U.S. are from Mexico.

Why is the author surprised that 90% of IMPORTED avocados come from the only avocado-producing nation with which we share a land border? Why even state that figure? I'm surprised it's not higher; there must be mighty tasty avocados down in Central America.

In fact, only 70% of all avocados eaten in the US are imports. [1] So, only 63% come from Mexico.

[1] http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00KP28.pdf

mc32• 9 years ago

But on the other hand, lots of urbanites extol the virtues of growing local, buying local and not adding to needless transportation (fossil fuels) of food (meanwhile, they drink lots of bottled water, but never mind).

madeofpalk9• 9 years ago

The article is bizarre because the whole 'avocado toast' thing is, IMHO, entirely Australian and I'm not all that sure it makes sense when the meme is taken internationally.

Edit: to clarify, yes, it's spread to the US, it's had its rounds in the US media people know about it (this article is proof). But so many parts of the 'avocado toast vs home ownership' are unique to Australia.

mikewhy• 9 years ago

I've definitely heared of it a lot lately, Google Trends seems to show a spike not too long ago[0].

[0] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=Avocado%20toast

colanderman5• 9 years ago

It definitely exists in the States; it's even reached the east coast.

wutbrodo• 9 years ago

Australian? Wasn't the original stupid media cycle about California (San Francisco IIRC)?

At the very least,the fact that I've only heard about it in the context of SF means that it's clearly more widespread than Australia.

barbs• 9 years ago

Oddly enough I came across this article here on Hacker News whilst eating avocado and vegemite on toast :)

paulcole• 9 years ago

Are you new to The New Yorker? What you described is their bread and butter formula.

pzone• 9 years ago

It's light, fun entertaining reading. I enjoyed listening to the author's voice, cracked up at a few jokes, learned a few facts as I went.

sporkenfang• 9 years ago

I had no idea Hass avocados were mainly descendants of one tree!

MichaelBurge• 9 years ago

“If avocado toast costs around $8 a serving, you’d have to skip approximately 4,900 of those beloved toasts to afford that new home.”

Remember that journalists make an average salary of $37,720(according to a quick Google search). You're not going to get a lot of advice or insight into handling your money from someone who can barely afford his rent. I don't think his goal was to give advice(I'm not really sure what the article's point was, to be honest), but I suggest avoiding taking advice from journalists nonetheless.

To a first approximation, cutting a habit of $8/day for 200 days/year would immediately raise your net worth by ~$20,000 in my eyes. You can't pay your down payment in net worth, but nonetheless you could easily buy a $180,000 property with just that change alone after 4 years.

throwaway911112• 9 years ago

Yea, but that neatly skates past the point that a billionaire is critiquing tens of millions of americans (more than a hundred million? Certainly close.) spending habits based on a menu item. This is a clear case of lazy criticism without much substance.

Kids, don't buy $8 avacado and toast if you want to use that money later. There, I said something just as useful without writing off a substantial portion of the population as being bad with money.

Swizec• 9 years ago

nonetheless you could easily buy a $180,000 property with just that change alone after 4 years.

Sure. Now consider this, avo toast for $8 is more of a brunch thing than an everyday thing. 2 servings per week tops. $832 savings per year, takes 216 years to save up for a $180,000 home.

Also 1-bedroom apartments in the places where avotoast is $8 cost more around $800k.

hwillis2• 9 years ago

To a first approximation, cutting a habit of $8/day for 200 days/year would immediately raise your net worth by ~$20,000 in my eyes. You can't pay your down payment in net worth, but nonetheless you could easily buy a $180,000 property with just that change alone after 4 years.

What? What does that even mean? $8 a day for 200 days/year would be $1,600 a year. That's basically nothing. $6,400 is not a down payment on $180,000.

batiudrami2• 9 years ago

The original comment was made by an Australian, who was essentially saying "young Australians are not frugal enough to buy property", despite real house prices growing much faster than inflation or wages and spending by young people on dining out/entertainment being lower than past generations. It's actually a reference to this [1] tongue-in-cheek article which, while obviously a joke, touched a nerve amongst young people in a city where the median house price is 1.1M AUD/850USD. Also, other issues with your maths aside, $180,000 properties don't exist in Australia in places with employment opportunities.

[1] http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-maga...

madeofpalk9• 9 years ago

a $180,000 property

hahaha.

Average property price in Sydney or Melbourne is closer to 10 times that.

thebigspacefuck2• 9 years ago

I eat avocado toast and I've never even seen that shit on a menu. I discovered it on my own. Somehow this 'phenomenon' is still news. Not everything has to be a 'thing'.

throwaway911112• 9 years ago

And yet, you can see people buying expensive avacado toast. What does your anecdotal evidence add to the conversation?

thebigspacefuck2• 9 years ago

What conversation?

x0x0• 9 years ago

Try it with an egg on top, cooked over easy to over medium. Trust me. It's gonna be amazing.

And maybe a dusting of red pepper flakes and a little lemon juice.

eplanit• 9 years ago

It's like life imitating art: https://vimeo.com/115585199

madeofpalk9• 9 years ago

Where are you from? 'Avocado toast' is an Australian 'meme' that has its origins of long before that Tim Gurner's 60 Minutes interview[1]. 'Avocado toast' (where toast is probably sourdough) is a staple on Australian cafe menus.

Also worth understanding is that Australian cafe culture is a bit different to the US and if you don't have or understand that, then I could understand how you struggle.

[1] Originally from October 2016 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-maga...

rdtsc2• 9 years ago

I don't even bother with the toast, just eat it with the spoon from the shell. Is that weird? I am sure I am not the only one.

The reason I like them so much, is they remind me when I used to climb walnut trees to get green walnuts. The avocado somehow tastes like that white unripened walnut meat.

tomascot• 9 years ago

I do the same. But with a bit of lemon juice and pepper.

tacojohn• 9 years ago

This is so good!

laxatives• 9 years ago

You can eat an avocado with almost anything and it its delicious.

rdtsc2• 9 years ago

I am trying that next time!

arcaster• 9 years ago

I do this, especially enjoyable when you happen upon an avocado that's just ripe enough to be almost buttery.

c0nducktr• 9 years ago

This method + Frank's hot sauce is my favorite!

vmarsy• 9 years ago

In France we cut it in half, remove the pit, and in each half put a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (2 olive oil : 1 balsamic vinegar ratio) in the hole where the pit used to be, and simply eat it with a spoon, it's delicious. The better the avocado and the better the balsamic vinegar, the better the final result :)

specialist• 9 years ago

Hmmm. Sounds good!

My go to snack is avocado, sea salt, and curry powder. Another good one is with cilantro, maybe some chopped onions

BenjiWiebe• 9 years ago

Fresh squeezed lime juice, salt, and pepper. How they eat them in Haiti.

siliconc0w• 9 years ago

To be fair, buying coffees and lunch really does start to add up if the alternative is that it's sitting in an index fund. $20 every day for a year for ten years is around 114k at 8% interest. That is a down payment on a house in most areas.

softawre• 9 years ago

Yes! This is the guys point.

I am probably a millennial by some definitions, but I can't stand the complainer variety that just beg for something to bitch about.

Yeah, it's not as easy as it was before for the most part. But you can still work hard and make it, assuming you're not completely under-privileged.

ball_of_lint• 9 years ago

Far too many people are now "completely under-privileged" and will end up poor despite their efforts.

But even beyond that, humanity progresses. So many new technologies and increased efficiencies have come about in recent years. Why then, do we see the opposite effect on lay people? So many people today cannot find work or aren't being paid enough to live on even to the standards of 20 years ago. This isn't whining, this is recognising inequity.

Chathamization2• 9 years ago

8% is pretty high. Look at the 10 year return rates for these portfolios[1]; the best is 6.96%, with the median being 4.89%. These involve a certain amount of risk; if you want something guaranteed, you're looking at about 2-2.3% return for CDs.

Likewise, assuming that people spend $20 a day on avocado toast is a bit extreme. A sandwich with avocado in it shouldn't set you back more than $6-8 in most places. And it's not like you have the choice to not eat at all, so compared to a $2-3 dollar super-cheap lunch (either cheaply made and brought from home or a couple dollar menu items at McDonald's) you're only paying an additional $3-6 dollars.

Let's be fairly generous with these numbers and say $10 a day, with a return of 5%. That's a return of $47,203 after 10 years. But after factoring in inflation, it's $39,104 (actually less when you factor in taxes). Use more realistic numbers ($6 a day, 4.89% return) and you get $23,323 (not figuring in taxes).

[1] http://www.marketwatch.com/lazyportfolio

m-i-l• 9 years ago

Yes: "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves".

cryptonector• 9 years ago

Step one: skip the toast.

Seriously, no toast. You don't really need carbs to eat avocado with, though it's true that corn chips go well with guacamole.

gdix7• 9 years ago

To all the people who keep saying things like "I don't eat avocado toast but I can't afford to buy a house either. Counter example! QED LOL", you're missing the point. It's not about avocado toast obviously. The point is that millennials spend money on frivolous luxuries and then complain that they can't afford anything. He was using avocado toast as an example. Duh.

tskrainar• 9 years ago

If "fruit on toast" is a "frivolous luxury", then I can't think of a better example of how unimaginable wealth inequality in this country has become.

Even at $8, that's on par with a pint of beer at a bar in SF.

What a life of frivolous luxury.

gdix7• 9 years ago

What are you talking about? Spending $8 on a beer is a luxury. If you spend an extra $6 on a drink to have a man pour it for you, you can't complain about being poor. I'm sorry.

https://www.thecut.com/2014/06/biggest-food-clich-on-instagr...

One of the tweets linked here is this https://twitter.com/nickconfessore/status/864192842817839104

He's making it seem like saving $50 a week to end up with $33K is some kind of impractical absurdity. $33K is a long way towards a down payment on a house in most of the country. AND THAT'S JUST HIS AVOCADO TOAST BUDGET! Cut out the $8 beers and $4 lattes from Starbucks, get married and combine your wealth with your new wife and guess what, you can afford a house. In the SF Bay Area? No, probably not. But believe it or not, there is a world outside the 64 square miles of SF.

Chathamization2• 9 years ago

The point is that millennials spend money on frivolous luxuries and then complain that they can't afford anything.

They seem to be spending less (percentage wise) than the previous generation[1]. I can understand why some people would be upset if they were told, "Even though you're spending less than I did on luxuries, you're still spending too much." Particularly when they are told that getting a sandwich for lunch is a luxury they can't afford.

[1] https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/millennial-boomer-spendi...

gdix7• 9 years ago

Who says the previous generation spent the "correct" amount? Where in the contract that we all signed when we became adults did it say "The cosmos shall ensure that no generation should ever have to spend less than the previous generation on anything"?

deepnotderp4• 9 years ago

I think that people use that as a joke response because the reality is so much sadder: even if we don't buy frivolous items (sidenote, millennials do buy less, and it's killing restaurants, which of course, we get blamed for without a hint of irony) Then we still won't be able to afford houses.

Think about how harsh that is, even if we live a life of austerity, income inequality is still so vast that we still won't be able to live a better life later. And the cherry on top is that despite living a life of relative austerity, a ridiculously rich person accuses us of frivolous spending.

cakedoggie4• 9 years ago

The point is that millennials spend money on frivolous luxuries and then complain that they can't afford anything.

This may be true, but it is not why they can't afford housing. It is a red herring, that you seem to have fallen for. It ignores the fact of how expensive housing in some areas has become.

ada19812• 9 years ago

I created something called "Dinosaur Eggs" in NYC that at least one restauranter has told me he "stole" and now features in his spot in vegas.

Halved avacdo; remove the seed; fill the hole with things of your choosing.. I like nutritional yeast, chia seeds, olive oil, sea salt, habenero sauce.

I've also done blueberries, other seeds, sprouts. All delicious.

frank_nitti• 9 years ago

Mexican people I knew while livong there put tuna salad in it during lent

colanderman5• 9 years ago

Every time I don't buy avocado toast, I buy something else to eat. I don't see how avoiding it helps to save money?

And, that stupid picture. For $8, I get TWO slices, each a LARGE piece of (organic whole-wheat) bread, with additional veggies and a nut spread, from some upscale vegan place in downtown Boston no less. If you're getting a tiny slice of Wonderbread with half an avocado on it like the article's picture suggests, of course you're getting ripped off.

cakedoggie4• 9 years ago

The idea is you buy something cheaper, or have cereal. That way you save money, and have more money to put towards a house.

colanderman5• 9 years ago

If the argument was "millenials eat out too much", that they are spending $8/meal×3 meals/day×365 days/year = $8760/year eating out, it would be an interesting article.

But the article is entirely about "avocado toast", a meal that, while popular, is not eaten more than once per week even by any millenial I know. Saving $8/meal×1 meal/week×52 weeks/year = $416/year is so laughably far from helping save for the down payment of a home, especially in a market where avocado toast is popular, like Boston, where it would take 100 years.

The article is vapid. It could be summed up as "get off my lawn" but because the author of this content-free piece is somehow employed by the New Yorker, he found it necessary to wrap it in a dozen paragraphs of purple prose.

Untit1ed• 9 years ago

The original tweet that started the whole avocado thing was arguing that millenials should be eating a $2-4 avocado at home rather than paying $14 for it at a cafe.

Of course, if you share a tiny apartment that's probably not such a pleasant way to catch up with your friends, but what does he care, he's already got a house.

ice109• 9 years ago

TWO slices

do you know how much a slice of bread costs?

colanderman5• 9 years ago

...The second slice also has avocado on it. As in, $4 per avocado toast slice. Not $8 as the article would have you think.

aphextron• 9 years ago

This is an ad for SoFi.

A Grand Unified Theory of Avocado Toast

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