The day my life hit guac bottom…

The house that I grew up in had three trees: a guava tree, a lemon tree, and my favorite, an avocado tree. This tree was enormous and full of leaves that would provide cool shade during hot summer days but most importantly, it was full of avocados. My uncle, who was a father figure to me, installed my first swing on this tree. In the evenings, I would help him water all the plants and flowers around the tree. Our family would have many barbeques and sit under the tree. Whenever we had guests coming over to visit, it was easy to find our house because of our big avocado tree. Even though I lived in the busy side of the city, being under this tree made me feel like I was in a place of peace and tranquility.

Having a tree that produced something edible and so readily available for me was exciting and I felt like the luckiest little girl in the world! I remember using a long orange fruit tree picker to bring down the avocados which were my absolute favorite thing to do so that we could give them away. We were fortunate to have more than enough. I felt like I was doing hard work and a very important job at the time. We were saving people money, trips to the store, time, and maybe even their health as avocados provide good nutrition. Our tree would produce so many avocados that we would fill countless buckets of them. We had so many that we would give them out to anyone and everyone. People that walked by would ask us if they could get some and we would say, “Yes! Please take as many as you’d like!” and whenever we had guests, we made sure they’d go home with a bag full of avocados. Once, we even had a city inspector make a deal with us that if we gave him a bucket of avocados, he’d write off our citation ticket for having something in our backyard that needed a permit (I forgot what it was exactly).

Our avocados were a good size too; about the size of a softball! As I got older, I started noticing avocados were expensive at grocery stores but since I never had to buy any, it didn’t really bother me at the time. Then about 4 years ago, the unthinkable happened: I had to start buying avocado! Our tree was growing more and more and became a danger to anyone walking on the sidewalk as it was able to fall at any moment. I begged my grandma and the rest of my family not to cut it down because I believed my tree was anything but harmful. Of course, no one would listen and cutting it down was necessary in order to prevent harm. I always thought my personal giving tree would stand forever but after 30 years, it was finally gone.

I remember my grandma tried growing out another one and I would say, “It’s not the same. I don’t want another one. Plus, by the time it grows as big as the last one, I’ll probably be dead”. I was pretty bitter about it and so my grandma just decided not to even bother with planting a new one. Since we no longer had a tree that gave us free avocados, I had to start buying them which to me was so hard to process. I had been getting avocados for free for 20 something years and now I’m paying extra for “guac” at chipotle! It felt unethical to me almost as if the air was being sold to me. Then I’d go to grocery stores and find avocados that were not even half the size of my softball avocados. I would think, “You call this an avocado?!” To make matters worse, avocados seem to always be overpriced.  It’s still something that I’m struggling to accept but I love avocados and so I make the investment and buy them.

One of the main reasons I choose to invest in avocados is not only for their delicious taste but for their health benefits as well. When I started learning more about nutrition, I didn’t know there was such a thing as a “good kind of fat”. The avocado is the only fruit that contains good fat which is good for heart health. Avocados are also naturally free of sodium, sugar, and cholesterol. They can act as a “nutrient booster” by helping increase the way our bodies absorb vitamins such as A and D. Even babies can enjoy this nutritious food. Due to its creamy consistency, it makes the first fresh food for babies to try.

 

What I really like about avocado is that there are so many ways to incorporate them into everyday meals. Below, I have listed some meals that allow me to get creative with avocado:

  • Avocado toast
  • Egg omelets topped with avocado
  • Buddha bowls
  • Salads
  • and of course, guacamole!

 

These are just a few dishes that I enjoy eating as each bite takes me back to a memorable time in my childhood. My tree may be gone, but my love for avocado will always remain.

 

 

 

Sources:

https://www.californiaavocado.com/nutrition/nutrients

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