Just read an amusing article on Nine.com.au about a journalist complaining about her USD $22 smashed avo on toast.
https://kitchen.nine.com.au/2018/03/26/12/14/all-the-avocado-news-you-can-handle
At least she can’t say that it wasn’t “smashed”.
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Breakdown of (AUD) costs assuming generous food outlet and retail prices:
Two pieces of bread - $0.20
One avocado - $2.50 (last week average was about $1.50)
Electricity for toasting ($0.04)
Total about $2.75.
Assume that the remaining costs is labour, profit, rent and depreciation of consumables (table, chairs, napkins, plates, cutlery and kitchen equipment etc)
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A local all organic coffee shop serves smashed avo on toast at $16.75. 2 slices of beautiful sourdough toast (probably $0.50 a slice!), 1/2 an avo, lemon zest, a bit of onion, and sea salt. Overpriced, absolutely, but so wonderful.
The US generally misses having coffee, bread, and cheese, and apparently a good smashed avo on toast. And the $US22.00 was probably plus tip and taxes!
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Just finished the last half of the 2 Hass avocados I bought the other day for $1.50 each. I used a loaf of Coles Finest sourdough bread ($5.50) along with a splash of balsamic vinegar and some freshly ground pepper and rock salt and butter.
Avocado on toast for 4 breakfasts for a total of less than $9.00.
We bought the bottle of Mazzetti balsamic vinegar a few years ago and had not used any for months. The cap was so firmly attached that I was hard pressed to unscrew even with our cast alloy jar opener. Could almost be used as a substitute for super glue.
The real surprise was just how sweet the balsamic had become, it reminded me of Chinese sweet and sour sauce. It must improve with age as wines do.
It is sweet when new. With a tightly fitted lid I doubt it is getting any sweeter in the bottle, the ageing is done before bottling in wooden casks in a solera system like good sherry. I suspect, like sherry, it is at its best when bottled and doesn’t improve afterwards.
The bottle is getting close to empty. Before it is, I will buy another and compare them and duly report back.
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It comes in various grades, Mazzetti has 3, 4 or 5 “leaf”. The higher the grade the older and more expensive. You would need to match the grade for a sensible comparison.
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I noticed an item on Nine.com.au today which reads “The next thing Bill Granger is doing with avocado. ‘Inventor’ of avocado transforms iconic dish”.
https://kitchen.nine.com.au/2018/08/01/14/40/bill-grangers-avocado-and-smashed-cucumber-salad-mirin-and-sesame
Whilst it does not mention the ‘inventor’ bit in the actual article, I Googled “Who started smashed avocado” and there are articles which claim that he invented it in 1993.
Very strange. We were some of the first people to eat avocado in Cairns back around 1960 when my mother would slice an avocado and serve it on fresh buttered bread with white vinegar, pepper and salt.
Then around 1973 when friends from Townsville were staying in a local caravan park, the owners gave them some avocados off their very tall old trees. My wife and I visited them at dinner time and they proceeded to mash the avocado and we all ate it on buttered toast with vinegar, pepper and salt.
My wife and I have eaten mashed avocado on toast ever since then.
That was some 20 years before Bill Granger ‘invented’ it and when he would have only been around 4 years old.
I guess the media never lets the truth get in the way of a good story.
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Both Coles and Woollies only stock 1 leaf and 4 leaf Mazzetti balsamic vinegar.
Leo’s Imports lists 1 leaf, 2 leaf, 3 leaf and 4 leaf Mazzetti balsamic vinegar, and I noticed a truffle infused version in their catalogue.
They listed outlets in Cairns as Coles, Woollies and a delicatessen which I visited yesterday and bought a bottle of the truffle infused product for $5.99.
I tried it when I got home and was not impressed with it. I much prefer the normal product.
I called into our local Coles today and bought another bottle of Mazzetti 1 leaf balsamic vinegar, and just to add insult to injury, they also had the truffle infused product on special for $4.20, despite it not being listed on their website.
That is the sort of thing that inspired me to create my topic titled “Are Coles In La La Land?”.
That being said, I tried the new bottle I bought today and it is actually the same as the old bottle so that you were correct.
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Yes, possibly pure fiction. Both my mother and also my gran who was born just this side of 1900 had a regular habit of avocado on toast, mashed and seasoned. Certainly a staple in both houses in the 1960’s long before that other classic the prawn cocktail.
There remains room for a creative genius to be the first chef to bring us splayed vegimite on sourdough and claim the title of inventing vegemite on toast.
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My breakfast for many years was mashed avo on toast, followed by mashed banana on toast. I was then looking after my little granddaughter ( now 14 ) who loved to share it with me. Did I ‘invent’ it? I don’t think so, though I didn’t know anyone else who ate it at the time.
I am really over poncy celebrity chefs and never watch cooking shows. I’m more interested in good nutrition and cost than flamboyant presentation.
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As I advised in my last post in this thread, the old bottle of Balsamic was not any sweeter than the new bottle is.
The mashed avocado is not sweet and the Balsamic is not sweet, but when they are added together, something magical occurs.
This is what made me believe that the old bottle had become sweeter with age.
It is almost a taste bud equivalent of an optical illusion.
As an aside, you have got to love some of the things flybuys chooses for their weekly emails advising of some of Coles latest specials.
The bottle of Mazzetti balsamic vinegar I bought last week was the second one in over 3 years, yet flybuys added it in today’s email.
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Another smashed avocado disaster.
https://kitchen.nine.com.au/2018/04/27/09/21/food-controversies
Oh dear.
At least she only paid 12 South Pacific Pesos for it instead of USD $22 like the journalist in Brooklyn did.
From the link:
Avocado is a sore point for millennial’s after a controversial article stated that if millennial’s stopped wasting money on avocado toast, they could afford to buy a home.
That’s how I did it - complete abstinence from avocado - bought my new home with the money saved.
A little sad how millennials are copping it - I don’t think the ratio of people who ‘have their s**t together’ vs ‘people who haven’t’ has changed much in 50 years 
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Oh dear. Another avocado drama. Just what does a vegan do now?
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The point of what really constitutes a vegan diet is well made in the article and I guess it really is a varied definition depending on what a person’s lifestyle beliefs are based.
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Oh dear. Another deconstructed sandwich disaster.
https://kitchen.nine.com.au/2018/04/27/09/21/food-controversies#2
P.S. Scan through to the second item in the link to see the deconstructed sandwich.
Yet another avocado disaster threatening a crisis for the Superebowl viewers.
https://kitchen.nine.com.au/2018/03/26/12/14/all-the-avocado-news-you-can-handle#1
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“Life Changing” Avocado Hack.
https://kitchen.nine.com.au/2018/03/26/12/14/all-the-avocado-news-you-can-handle#1
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