Avocado, the not-so-simple snack. But is our love of it sustainable?

Miami-born Venezuelan-raised chef, author and food influencer Grace Ramirez.

Avocados are still smashing it – a favourite of cafe customers, their supply increasingly regular, prices good, quality consistent, more growers planting more trees, particularly in Northland, boutique players in the market delivering to your door year-round.

"The world has now demanded avocado on toast in every corner of the planet," says food maven Grace Ramirez, speaking to Canvas from New York, "You can't go anywhere, from Dubai to Israel to New York or Auckland - it is on every menu."

The Miami-born Venezuelan-raised chef, author and food influencer spent 2012 to 2016 living in New Zealand, so has seen the toast from both sides now.

She explains the willingness of people to pay for something that anyone with opposable thumbs can make for themselves by noting that it's not about the brilliant flavour or amount of preparation, it's about having a simple snack to enjoy when having coffee out with friends. It's the same reason people will also pay for Vegemite on toast or, "in New York they will order a bagel with peanut butter and jelly".

Although acknowledging its popularity, Ramirez has had all the avocado she can eat. "I am personally saturated, and I think they overdid it in New Zealand where the trend picked up and all the cafes in Ponsonby and Herne Bay and Grey Lynn had avocado on toast." She is concerned about the fruit's sustainability. Relative to most other produce, avocados need extremely high amounts of water to grow, creating problems in dry countries, like Mexico, where they are a major crop.

For now, Nigel Cottle, founder of Crave and Kind cafes in Auckland's Morningside, ground zero of the avo-calypse, says there is no sign of its popularity waning. Whichever way you slice it, his customers are still loving their smashed avo.

"We try to do variations, which can be a bit polarising," says Cottle. "Some people want a classic, but at Crave we have a version with mandarin bits and orange zest. At Kind, the avo bene is the most popular dish – it's super simple and classic."

Northland, where growing conditions are ideal, has seen a boom in avocado growing. Chef Ming Poon, of Kerikeri's Māha Restaurant, is another cook who would like to put the avo in its place.

Ming Poon in his Northland garden.

"Why, in the middle of winter, do we need avocado?" laments Poon. "The avocado needs to be used according to its natural growing season rather than having to conform to dining trends - seasonality and using local produce is more important to us."

Poon also acknowledges the avo's versatility: "In some way, it is always on my menu in one form or the other. At the beginning, we used it for an Asian starter and now we have what I call Japanese guacamole." He says the fact that avocado has such a neutral flavour makes it a good foundation for a variety of dishes.

Further south, at Kinloch Lodge on Lake Taupō, Chilean chef Norka Mella Munoz is saying no to average avocado options. Her menu gives the lie to the notion that avocado is only good for guac and toast.

"I come from a country that produces avocado, and I follow my roots," says Munoz. "I love to combine avocado with seafood. The last thing I did was crayfish poached with butter with warm avocado sauce. This was delicious."

But being away from home has also taught her to break the rules. "In Chile we just use it savoury, but here, because people try a lot of stuff, I was surprised how good it was with dessert. Also, I can serve it raw, in salsas, in salads, milkshakes and cakes."

Isabel Pasch, director of Bread & Butter cafe in Grey Lynn, knows which side her smashed avocado is buttered on. Her customers trend towards the adventurous.

"We usually change out the smashed avocado dish with every menu change. We had times when avos were ridiculously expensive and we had to bulk it up with edamame smash. At the moment, we have smashed avo with ancient grain tabbouleh on kūmara sourdough. I love it."

New Zealand is fortunate to have ideal climatic conditions for avocado growing and a market size that keeps demand within sustainable limits. As far as the fruit's appetite for water goes, so far so good. But elsewhere around the world, the picture is not so rosy.

"In the States, most avocado comes from Mexico," says Ramirez, "and 80 per cent of it from just one state. Everyone wants to plant them. An ecosystem is being destroyed to plant avocado. In America, we are spoilt because we want them all year round. This is contrary to what I learned in New Zealand about seasonality and sustainability. Farming practices there are very advanced and people care."

Norka Mella Munoz head chef of the Kinloch Manor.

Munoz says she is happy to be working in New Zealand because, "I don't have to worry about sustainability. In Kinloch my neighbours are avocado producers. I know what they do and that they are careful about the environment."

Poon finds some irony in the makeup of the avo demographic. "The same person advocating for the environment and to save the Earth and so on is trying to go against nature and using whatever means necessary, with science and spray, to grow food that doesn't grow in winter. That to me is a bit confusing."

In other parts of the world, sustainability dominates the avocado chit-chat. Some overseas cooks have abandoned it altogether, offering patrons alternatives, according to the UK's Guardian, such as "a guacamole-style dip made from pistachios and fermented gooseberries" or versions based on peas or jerusalem artichokes.

What about broccoli guacamole, as practised in some countries where avos are being removed from menus altogether? "I imagine it being a bit gritty," says Pasch. "But I'm a huge fan of experimental cuisine and do a lot at home. When we did the edamame version, there were no complaints. We didn't try to hide it and I thought it tasted fine."

There are no plans to revive the edamame-adulterated option. "Supply is good because they planted so many up north. From the cafe perspective I don't mind, but I do worry that the Far North is quite dry and they need a lot of water."

In New Zealand, the skies generally provide all the avo's hydration needs, but the local industry is aware that things could go pear-shaped and is on to it, although sustainability is a work in progress. "Our mandatory industry systems are being updated to become sustainable," says New Zealand Avocado CEO Jen Scoular, who has a smallish patch of around 80 trees herself.

According to her group's website: "The New Zealand avocado industry is New Zealand's third largest fresh fruit exporter, with over 4000 hectares of production worth approximately $230 million to the economy. The industry's vision is to expand this to 10,000ha, resulting in an industry value of $1 billion by 2040."

It turns out avocados don't just grow on trees. They need a lot of help. "We would be the wettest climate that grows avocados in the world," says Scoular. "The trees need less than the rainfall in any of our growing regions. In the Bay [of Plenty] they need about 900ml of rain a year and we get 1.5 litres."

Meanwhile, domestic consumers are being well served by the likes of The Avo Tree, which was founded by Thorley Robbins, "six years ago in Mum and Dad's garage".

"We have since moved to Te Puna from Katikati," says Robbins, "and are now a full-time team of eight, distributing avocados from the tree directly to customers every day all around New Zealand."

With produce from their growers increasingly cheaper and more abundant, operations
manager Sam Temperton says there are plans to diversify into an increasingly wide range of products, including skincare and avocado leaf tea.

But he's aware there are problems at the other end of the supply chain. "Essentially you would call it a tough year for growers due to a number of external forces, mainly the lack of an Australian market." This year, Australia, our traditional export market for the green gold, grew a whole lot of fruit and didn't need ours. "There's been a bumper crop, and global shipping issues have made the alternative Asian export market problematic."

But Temperton's conscience is clear when it comes to water consumption: "Our growers are 100 per cent local, in the Bay of Plenty specifically. Around 85 per cent of them have no irrigation and that is relying on natural rainfall. We are lucky that here we have surplus water. It's not infinite. You will get to a point where you will have issues - but we are a long, long, long way from that."