It is cold but I push on. I make my way down the small space, past the lady in the wheel chair, past the mother and her crying baby, past my comfort zone. Now I am in the middle of the walkway. I look around for it. At first I think maybe I am in the wrong place , but just as I was about to give up, just as I was about to quit and head out, I see it. It is the one thing I ventured into the produce aisle for today. I see the avocados. I grab a plastic produce bag and I am about to load them in. But just then I see the price. I drop the fruit and step back in shock. This can't be right. It is almost twice the price I paid for it on Super Bowl Sunday. How dare they? I look around for a grocery clerk to ask if it was mislabeled , but I see no one.
"Siri what is the average price of avocados right now?" I ask.
"Let me think about that? (She says this when she is stalling for time.) Here is what I have found for 'what is the average price of avocados right now,'" Siri responds, in the British accent I have set for her.
From her cadre of offerings. I pull up an article on Business Insider which outlines how and why the cost of avocados have been breaking the bank, and why we will be robbing our piggy banks to pay for that "extra guac" we so crave on our burritos and with our chips.
The American-grown avocado supply is still recovering from the California drought and last year's subsequent decreased yield, most online sources agree. And Bloomberg explains that increasing demand is sending up the prices of the ones being bought from Mexico. Personally I think Mexico is hoarding them to punish Americans for electing the man who wants to build a wall and make them pay for it . But I did not vote for him, so I feel unfairly punished. As such I dig deeper.
The median price of a Hass avocado is now over a dollar, while in January it was just about 80 cents. Data from the Hass Avocado Board shows most avocados are at least 30 cents more per hit, when compared to the cost around Cinco De Mayo last year.
Being that I grew up with an avocado tree in my front yard, back in Trinidad, I feel personally affronted that I have to spend about $6 to get my weekly supply of avocados to slice for my salads. Look at my troubles now. I've developed a $24 a month habit messing around with these avocados. That means I"m spending upwards of $250 a year for just one fruit. Ay Caramba.
But who died and made avocado king?
Well apparently lots of people died. Heart disease and cancer are among two of the biggest killers in American society. So now that doctors have linked avocados to good cholesterol and anti inflammatory diets, Americans cannot get enough of this creamy crack. (I blame Google for giving everyone so much free information.)
Demand for avocados is outweighing supply, and well even those of us who are not that good at equations (clears throat) knows what that leads too. So here we are , paying $1.25 per rock and hoping that for the sake of our pocket books Trump's wall never goes up, because we have an avocado habit to support. And Dios mÃo , it is getting expensive.
