I guess you could say my dad was the inspiration for this post about avocado toast. But before I tell you about that, I have to interrupt myself to say I just inadvertently made a rhyme—“inspiration for this post about avocado toast.” My mom would have said right now, “She’s a poet and don’t know it, but her feet show it—they’re Longfellows!” Wow, that’s an old memory, and makes me smile. Any boomers out there who have heard that saying, or was it just us? Mom said it every time we unintentionally rhymed. Sweet memories, and memories are definitely inspirational.
But back to being inspired by avocados, or inspired by Dad, whichever works. Did I mention my dad loved to teach us through games? He could be quite creative at sneaking in learning in unique ways. That’s why, if today you say something about avocado sandwiches or avocado crackers to anyone in at least the older 3 generations in my family, they will immediately mention Bible questions. And it’s thanks to Daddy.
I grew up in a rural town of around 2,000 souls. Fun fact: my husband and I visited a couple of years ago and our little town had a population that was 24 more people than when I lived there as a child more than 50 years ago—though, to be fair, it had fluctuated to over 3,000 at one point through the years. We ate a lot of home-grown vegetables growing up. But my dad was always wanting to expand our palates, so one day he brought home this ugly, pear-shaped object that had bumpy dark green skin like an alligator and said it was for us to eat. None of us had ever seen an avocado, but it was considered an exotic delicacy, at least in our rural neck of the woods. And now we know it’s good for us. You probably know that avocados are a stone fruit, not technically a veggie, full of vitamins and minerals and loaded with the good stuff—monounsaturated fatty acids. Medicalnewstoday.com says they have the potential to improve digestion, decrease risk of depression, and protect against cancer. They also have tons of fiber and are healthy for us in lots of ways. There’s your nutritional trivia for the week. You’re welcome. Daddy didn’t know any of that, but I’m telling you, it wouldn’t have helped him make his case. I know, crazy—but since we had never tasted one before, we were not impressed. Our reaction as kids was rejection en masse.
So Daddy cut that avocado up, mashed it with some butter, salt and pepper, and slapped it between two saltine crackers. But he wouldn’t let anyone eat it until we answered a Bible question (did I mention he was a preacher?) We were a competitive family, and from that moment on all four of us kids competed for each individual avocado cracker, and even Mom and Dad got in on the game. We answered lots and lots of Bible questions growing up, learning while we grew to love avocados. I mean, I can’t even imagine going more than a few days without eating avocado in some form now.
But the game became such a tradition that as adults our whole generation, as well as the next, talks about how we still love avocado cracker sandwiches—but they don’t taste as good if someone doesn’t ask us Bible questions! So we still occasionally ask each other the questions so that we can eat and fully enjoy our avocado sandwiches—the more obscure the better, now that we’re all older and have known who the mother of Jesus was since we were young (starter question for the uninitiated littles). I even introduced avocados to my roommate at college in Nebraska and she learned to love them, too—on crackers, served with Bible questions, of course.
Fast forward to today, and it turns out there’s a thing called Avocado Toast that is A THING! And it turns out it’s been a thing for awhile, quietly becoming a trend while I wasn’t looking. They even serve it at upscale restaurants around the world, which has drawn some criticism for the high prices charged. My daughters love it—but it’s hyped as a millennial go-to meal, so that makes sense. I resisted for awhile, even though I love avocados so much, because it couldn’t possibly be as good as avocado cracker sandwiches. And there may be just a little residual loyalty factor to my beloved avocado crackers in play. Not to mention I wouldn’t call myself either a trend setter or a person who jumps on the bandwagon of every fad that comes along. And then there’s the fact that I am not of the “hip” generation who stereotypically are all eating avocado toast. A joke has been going around about this grandpa who walked up with a young guy wearing skinny jeans and eating avocado toast. Someone asked, “Grandpa, who is that?” He replied, “Oh, that’s my hip replacement.” Insert eye roll here.
Since Watson is in this pic it’s a good place to remind you that avocados are toxic to dogs
But once I tried it, I was hooked! Move over, millennials, there’s a boomer in the kitchen! It’s almost better than the original avocado cracker sandwiches three generations (so far) have grown up on (sorry, Dad!). It’s crazy easy to make, and I do it like my daughter taught me. I use sourdough bread and while it’s toasting, I peel, smash, and salt and pepper one avocado per person (or you can just use slices). Really, the only difference from my Dad’s avocado cracker sandwiches is they had butter in them, which made them a little less healthy. But it tastes amazing on toast all by itself. You can add lemon juice if you want, splash a little olive oil on the toast, spread that yummy avocado thickly, and enjoy its scrumptiousness!
If that’s a little bland for you, though, you can use any bread you want and get creative with the avocado. You can make guacamole or just add chopped tomatoes or chopped jalapeños, red pepper flakes, bagel seasoning, sour cream, hummus, or Greek yogurt, radishes and cucumbers. You may want to add a fried or poached egg on top. The sky’s the limit on the myriad garnishes you can use. You can have your signature variations like the gourmet restaurants have, and make it as fancy as you want! But if you want to make it taste even yummier, answer this Bible question before taking a bite: Who was known as the father of all those who play stringed instruments and pipes? You can find the answer in Genesis 4:21. If you get it right, you may eat your avocado toast! If not—oh, go ahead and eat it anyway. It’s good for you!
I think it’s the stories that make food inspiring. When I think about different foods or meals I’ve eaten, especially with family, the stories come to mind and I can almost taste the food. Or in the case of that one Christmas when the molded jello salad was stuck in its Tupperware mold (everyone had one back then) and my sister held it under running water which promptly released it to slither ever so gracefully down the garbage disposal (have you ever tried to catch melting jello salad with your hands?), I have to just imagine what it would have tasted like. Food stories. Everyday inspiration right there. What food has become a tradition in your family? Is there a story to go with it? Inspire me!
