Backlash for the superstar of superfoods
WE know that among the so-called superfoods, the avocado reigns supreme.
Its health benefits are not unfounded.
Stuffed with vitamins and fibre, it helps with your good cholesterol, removes “bad” fat and even rejuvenates your skin (if you can bear mashing it on your face and hoping the doorbell doesn’t ring).
More than three million new pictures of avocados are posted on Instagram EVERY DAY.
When Nigella Lawson showed people how to “cook” avocado on toast, Waitrose (the posh shop) said their sales of the product increased 30pc, and it’s safe to say most of their customers were avid avo buyers anyway.
London hosts regular “Avopopup” and “Avolution” themed events, and Miley Cyrus even has a tattoo of one.
But there’s been a backlash against the world’s favourite fruit of late.
Some ethical restaurants are now banning avocados on the menu due to the air miles involved in getting them to table.
In Mexico, the world’s largest producer, drug cartels are taking over avocado farms because the profit margin from their crops is now greater than that on marijuana.
Forest thinning, water shortages, not to mention the sharp rise in “avo hand” presenting in the world’s emergency departments, has taken the sheen off the sales.
But if that’s not enough to convince you, it’s worth remembering that the word is derived from ‘ahuacatl’, which is Aztec for ‘testicle’. Why not just have cereal this morning, eh?
Celeb chefs cooking up trouble on jobs front
OF COURSE, one of the culprits for the rise in certain foods becoming too fashionable for words, apart from Nigella, is ‘MasterChef ’.
Food porn features on almost every telly channel now and there are millions of apps devoted to everything from popping a pomegranate to stirring soup.
But research published by the UK hiring site caterer.com has revealed that job vacancies cannot be filled in canteens, restaurants and pubs right now.
Would-be chefs are put off by discovering how an actual kitchen works, after watching too many stylised reality TV shows where the celebrity chef is propped up by an unreasonable amount of food preppers, stylists, nutritionists, buyers and expensive ingredients.
The catering industry is chronically short-staffed as people just don’t want a career working their way up from pot-washer to Michelin star over 20 years, when you can do it as a ‘Bake Off ’ contestant in three months and bag yourself a book deal.
In reality, most of us never cook anything we see on screen, but stick to the same old spag bol and tuna pasta for dinner.
Viewers spared the great TV dilemma on Sunday
WHEN it comes to compelling telly though, Christmas used to be all about ‘Corrie’ versus ‘EastEnders’, or Bond v Rocky. This year, for a real head-to-head battle, viewers were to have been presented with a dastardly dilemma this Sunday evening: the ‘I’m A Celebrity’ final on ITV or the ‘Great Brexit Debate’ with Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn over on BBC One.
Thankfully, the Beeb caved in because everyone was fighting about the format.
The choice would have polarised viewers, though – to shout at your least favourite vacuous voicebox wittering on about tasks and challenges, or watch Dec and Holly in the jungle?