• I I .,,, I • f / / ' \ t I \ • / i l / . \ -- - 111c11 HE1m81111nE11 · ·· I I 1· / KNOW WHAT THIS LOOKS (JK£ I know what this looks like. Someone•jumping on the bandwagon, hitching a ride to the millennial zeitgeist-defining avocado toast. But more on that later. For me, avocado toast was my childhood go-to, a simple meal my brother and I learned from my dad, who learned it from his, who learned it from his. It is emblematic of the simplicity of childhood, but also my father's love of the just enough - nothing unnecessary or superfluous, just the essentials. In this case. one avocado, cut into slices, arranged on two pieces of buttered toast, then sprinkled with salt. My dad perfonned this task with his quiet solicitude, his focused attention, his careful moti ons. This he got from my grandpa, too, a way of making small, routine activities seem like the most important thing in the world. , The first step. after putting your bread in the toaster (the seedy kind), is to halve the avocado with a sharp knife, cutting a straight line through the length of the fruit, knife still, avocado rotating in your palm. returning to the point of first break. My dad would then twist with two hands to separate one half from the other, then deftly axe the pit with the blade of the knife. You scoop the. fruit from the skin with a soup spoon and place them flatly on a cutting board, rounded tops up. My favorite part to watch, now: my dad would methodically cut thin slices from the first half, using the side of the knife to carefully lay each one on the buttered toast like shingles on a rooftop. He moves from left to right, slice, settle, slice, settle, slice, settle. Each slice he made feel special. Make two rows but fill gaps on the top or bottom as needed. Repeat with the other half and second slice of bread, then sprinkle black pepper and sea salt and watch the latter meh on the soft green beds. • 11111 II II Ill 11 l\ If' I I I U I l( HI I I l U U ' • •- H lll • 1 I &1' '•' -- ._, ~ ;,...L _____ ____________.._. 7 -: . -. Poem by Frank 0 ' Hara ( 1926-66) .. • Light clarity avocado salad in the morning : after all the terrible things I do how amazing it is : to find forgiveness and love, not even forgiveness Yes, O'Hara mentions avocados, but this poem is also atsout • since what is done is done and forgiveness isn't love love - how love can infuse rightness and meaning into the ~ and love is love nothing can ever go wrong : wrong and meaningless. And my dad's avocado toast (in all its 1 ~· : though things can get irritating boring and dispensable ; plainness) is an extension of love, making right and giving meaning in small ways. ; (in the imagination) but not really for love... .. :,,, ,,~-,:un• uu 111tH1iu, ,,, u,,,,u,au, ,uu•'"'' f Martin Manalansan explores food as a sensory and emotional ,trigger and as a linchpin of conjured homecomings. Food can •transport someone across space and time, regardless of an eater's desire to figuratively return home or not. It becomes embedded in our experiential fabric, threaded through and between patches of memory. I see my dad reading at the table, -.••'' IIIII • IIUUI lllllll 11(1111 IC': a plate of two open face toasts before him. - Poem by me (2000-present) -. - For me, avocado toast means contentedness and security. a countertop memory: - Through the turbulence of childhood and adolescence, I found - three generations sharing - great comfort and continuity in the dish, It was predictable, one initial, Jon J to Chad J; - constant, toasty and buttery. With the few ingredients, you his J to Jacob, Nicholas, -- really know what you're gonna get. And that was entirely o~y. - ~ and with our J, a likeness - Things could get scary and unpredictable, but there was always : and a liking: .- avocado toast. r : for minutia and avocado toast, - : spread of butter, pools of salt. - .... -... -... -- r ,., I UI • Hut U I Cl••''-' CI I lll' '".:' J»- ,_ a r.e~ ,_ r.-r.- l'he ::ulery Bad Rawd Millennial •1nvention• of Avocado Toast cu (IIW,.P4llil.il The pennutations of context and connation stapled to food arc .. l ., ALI U constantly being n:defmed, reconstructed, reordered. For avocado toast, this happened in a public rocket to fame whereby the dish has been catapulted to millennial poster food. This has also meant that people's gripes with millennials and gen z or whatever names we've decided on have been mashed into the creamy spread of the fatty superfood. In other words, it has become a sort of gastronomic scapegoat, a symbol of frivolous spending. l. "When I w,ps trying to buy my first home, I wasn't buying smashed avocado tor $19 and four coffees at $4 .each," says billionaire property developer Tim Gurner. Is avocado toast really to blame? Here's a quick pop hit detour. \ A case study, if you will. • • _ _-.s-. .~ .....-,. Emily Zeck - Avocado Toast (excerpted) • 4 \ ls thisi in the words of Extremely Low Quality Content, the millennial anthem? If anything, it is an unintentional satire of a particular brand of consumerism. The songwriter accidentally reveals the privilege and material expenses inherent in \ "influencer" trendiness (e.g., property access and free time to · lounge on the beach, Netflix subscriptions, the titular toast itself) while simultaneously slamming those with a "high-rise high life." Catherine deOliveira is right to point out the.irony. n II l _ _ .............__!...: , . ~~~ .. Emily Zeck - Avocado ·Toast (ei cerpted) , I don't wanna wait in line To spend $20 bucks just to have a good time I don't wanna fake it no more I'd rather be in sweats on my living room floor Take my ~akeup off Hang up my dress and Kick off my heels And turn On Netflix I don't care Call me parks and reckless No, I don't care You can keep your high-rise high life I'd rather have the coconut lime life I'd rather have the sand get my mind right Give me a tan and a good vibe It's my life I'm just fme Eatin' avocado toast on the west coast Sunshine, I don't mind Salt in my hair and the sand in my toes I don't wanna waste my time Flexing for people I don't even like I don't wanna chase the lie Everyone~s living and I don't know why Material things You're so obsessed with Break your bank I'll break out the Netflix (And I cannot blame millennials for their taste. There's something about the balance of fat and salt, crunchy and creamy, toasted and cool. It's just yummy.) It's hard not to be fascinated ~y the story of avocado toast. I Avocado toast became capital for Instagram status, and its grew up eating it at my dining table and grandparents' counter, fame and trendiness saw it popping up in pricey toast bars but my friends did not see that image when I explained I'd be around the country. And I assume that the rising price of the making a zine about avocado toast. Instead, they laughed, dish only reinforced its allure. In his article "Trash Food," drawing on every association of the dish with meme-worthy Chris Offutt forecasted that "one day wealthy white people will millennials, oblivious influencers, health fads, and sterile a rich hipster cafes. Avocado toast has become about so much more. pay thirty-five dollars for a tiny portion of carp with ,.. ,- sauce-and congratulate themselves for doing so." There appears to be a similar congratulatory nature to these toast creations, which must be assembled and purchased in spaces I w~uld bt remiss to i~olate pre-Instagram avocado toast to my that can feel exclusive and insular (even still, Zeck flaunts it as family. Avocado, commg from the Spanish aguacate, was a a symbol of carefree, clean living). Continuing, Offutt writes staple for my German great grandpa but originated in central that ''when the white elite take an interest in the food poor Me~ico. Since its origination, the avocado has spread across people eat, the price goes up." We've certainly seen such price the globe, growing in the Americas, Caribbean, Oceania, inflation here. Africa, an,d parts of Asia. ., .· That being said, Mr. Gumer's statement is highly reductive, ' and he also seems like an ass. Avocado toast alone is not enough to account for millennial spending habits, and the price of artisanal toasts are influenced by many factors like the cost oflabor (which is influenced by the regional cost of living, insurance mandates, etc.), rent, supplies, equipment, permits, advertising, accounting, maintenance, etc., etc. · To~y, large-scale avocado orchards exact great resource and ~nviro_nmen~I tolls. These standardized economies of scale are mput-~t~ns1ve, from water, fertilizer, and pruning technology to pesticides a~d sun burn protection. It takes roughly eighteen THIS IS gallons of applied water to grow a single avocado. That water 41TilAAU¥ burden_can si~ficantly exacerbate droughts in avocado­ .,,,,,, lfST producmg regions. IN 1"•WN 1 Swt"~ •••••••• / •••••••••••••••••• •••••••••• • • • • •• • ~ ' ' ' ' J rM ~ tVYV'I\ ~ IYVVl I\ fYW'YH NJ UP NE'XT: With all this in mind, avocado toast still means a lot to me. It means a lot because it feels like home and being surrounded by WHf'R.f l>ID M~ love and &REAT GRANO PA , ,M.~ · though things can get irritating boring and dispensable SR.AJtJDP~ :rotJ:.s r:>Al> 11 .J"oNAH~ (in the imagination) but not really for love.