Avocado and Tomato Salad (or Who’s Afraid of Avocados?)

Prep Time: 15 mins	Total Time: 15 mins
Serves: 4 servings

A pert, carefully homemade oil-and-vinegar dressing gives this favorite salad distinction. Be sure the avocado is fully ripe for best flavor — it should just yield to gentle pressure when cupped in the palm of the hand. A good way to ripen firm avocados is to place them in a brown paper bag at room temperature for a day or more until they reach just the right stage.

From: My Great Recipes, 1981

INGREDIENTS

1	T	red wine vinegar
2	t	dijon mustard
½	t	salt
½	t	oregano
½	t	lemon juice
¼	t	white pepper
1	cl	garlic, minced or pressed
1½	t	olive oil
3	T	salad oil
3	md	tomatoes
1	lg	ripe avocado
		butter lettuce or other soft leaf lettuce

STEPS

1. In a small bowl mix vinegar, mustard, salt, oregano, lemon juice, pepper, and garlic. Using a fork, gradually stir in olive oil and salad oil until well blended and slightly thick. (This much can be done ahead, covered, and refrigerated to blend flavors; blend well with a fork before using.)
2. Peel tomatoes and cut lengthwise in about ⅓-inch slices. Cut avocado in half, remove pit, peel, and cut in about ⅓-inch slices. Lightly mix tomatoes, avocado slices, and dressing.
3. Serve at once in lettuce lined bowl or atop lettuce leaves on individual salad plates.

TIPS

• To peel an avocado neatly, cut it lengthwise around the middle, cutting all the way to the seed. Separate the halves by turning them in opposite directions; then remove the seed by striking it with the blade of a sharp knife, impaling the knife in the seed. Twist the knife to lift out the seed. Use a paring knife to peel off skin.

My Notes

This recipe is fascinating for me. It feels like half a salad. It’s barely a recipe. Just a homemade dressing, avocados, and tomatoes. What prompted My Great Recipes to include this?

Is it a salad for picky eaters? I’d be surprised, since tomatoes are a point of disgust for many. Did they forget ingredients? Possible, but unlikely. Is this guacamole for white people, because in the eighties, guacamole was too foreign for people in Minnesota? Maybe, but in that case, wouldn’t it be a selling point, and how on earth would I prove that?

Maybe people just didn’t know what to do with avocados.

This chart is one I made to represent the per capita consumption of avocados in the US, from 1976-2019. Per capita consumption normalizes population growth, so we can really see how many avocados on average per year each person consumed.

Avocados vary in weight, from 3 oz to 16 oz. On average, avocados that I buy are about 8 oz, or 0.5 lbs. Multiplying that out, people would only buy approximately 3-4 total avocados a year.

As we can see on the chart, avocado consumption was relatively low for a long time, and only reliably raised above 2 lbs per person per year in 2000. Only in the last few years have we really seen avocado demand skyrocket.

When I was growing up, the only places you would see avocados were in “California” themed items like burgers, sushi, or salads, or in guacamole. Of course, some people would just have them at home (I grew up in Orange County), but it wasn’t the default.

Now, avocados are (of course) on toast, eaten with salt and pepper, as a topping for oatmeal, anything now that we have decided Omega-3 fatty acids are good to have. (AKA not all fat is created equal.)

Did white people even know how to make guacamole? I thought I disliked guacamole for many years, because my mom used mayonnaise as a base ingredient. Love you, Mom. ❤️ Now that I know it can be basically mushed up avocados with some onions and spices, life is much better.

Back in the 70s and 80s, avocados were more expensive, and more of a delicacy. Why not just throw them on a salad? What else were you supposed to do with them? Knowing mid century party culture, you would probably lay them out in a ring with olives at the center of each slice.

If you want to feel better about yourself (or worse about humanity) watch this video from Epicurious, in which 50 people attempt to peel an avocado. God help us.

Bibliography

• U. S. Department of Agriculture/Economic Research Service. (2020). Fruit and Tree Nuts Yearbook Tables. Kenner, B. and Kramer, J.