Imagine for a moment a Super Bowl without the avocado.
No tubs of guacamole to be defiled by double-dipping guests at your big game-day party. No chunks of creamy green flesh with which to spike your salsa or scatter over nachos.
If that's hard to picture, it's because the avocado has so completely -- and so quickly -- attached itself to this utterly unrelated sporting event.
As recently as 13 years ago the avocado wasn't the football juggernaut it is today. It has been a relentless and cunning campaign to victory, achieved in part through marketing muscle.
Back at the turn of this century, Americans ate a mere 8 million pounds of avocados during Super Bowl festivities. Apparently this needed to be remedied, so in 2002 the Hass Avocado Board was formed to promote the dominant avocado variety sold in the U.S.
Today, Americans are expected to consume 79 million pounds of avocados around the championship game. For those keeping score, that's roughly 158 million avocados.
"They are outstanding marketers. We can all learn something from them," Kathy Means, vice president of government affairs for the Produce Marketing Association, says of avocado marketing groups, which also include the California Avocado Commission. "It's part of the Super Bowl culture. It's not just associated with it; it's ingrained in it."
Of course, some credit for the ascendance of the avocado goes to the nation's burgeoning Latino population and the growing popularity of Hispanic foods, including guacamole (which, by the way, dates to the Aztecs). Cinco de Mayo previously had been the top guac day, but that's an association that makes sense.
Connecting foods and events that share no true cultural bond is no simple matter. Plenty of produce lobbyists have tried.
"I used to run the kiwifruit commission," says Scott Horsfall, CEO of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement. "We used to try to get some promotion around Groundhog Day because kiwis and groundhogs are both fuzzy. But we never got much attention there."
Hard to believe, really.
So why the avocado and why the Super Bowl? Broadly speaking, it helps that the Super Bowl has morphed from athletic event to all-out national party. And that has meant a windfall for many party-friendly foods on what the Snack Foods Association deems the "biggest snacking day of the year."
Chicken wings, for example. Americans will consume more than 1.23 billion of them this weekend, according to the National Chicken Council's 2013 Wing Report. They also will also eat roughly 15 million pizzas, according to trade publication Pizza Today. And then there are all those beers and potato chips.
Some of the avocado's success is a matter of timing.
Avocados from Mexico and other south-of-the-border points -- the source of more than half of those consumed in the U.S. -- are in season four times a year. And the Super Bowl happened to be an excellent excuse to market around one of those seasons.
"It was a way to get the season going and get the product on the shelf," says Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of the Hass Avocado Board. "Super Bowl is the ideal time. It is the largest party day in the U.S. after New Year's Eve and Halloween. And I like to say avocado people are party people."
But convincing party people that a tub of guacamole is a Super Bowl must-have wasn't the starting point. Escobedo says the industry first had to persuade grocery stores to stock lots of avocados around the big game. It took a while, but now mountains of avocados greet you at the front of the supermarket this time of year.
Only after grocery stores were on board did consumer outreach get serious. And by serious we mean sweepstakes, recipe contests, promotions at tailgating parties, sports television partnerships and athlete endorsements, all manner of social media outreach -- even encouraging consumers to share photos of their favorite guacamole -- and signing on of celebrity chefs like Tyler Florence and Curtis Stone to talk up the deliciousness of the fruit.
All told, the avocado industry spends about $37 million a year on marketing and promotion.
That leaves Ali McDaniel, food marketing manager for the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council -- the people who in an alternate reality might have brought you millions of pounds of Super Bowl hummus or spicy barbecue lentil loaf -- feeling a bit wistful. Her annual budget is less than $100,000.
"It would be nice if we could overthrow the avocado," McDaniel says. "Unfortunately, the price of advertising campaigns are too steep for us at the moment. Hummus is definitely on the rise, though."
Base Guacamole Recipe
Start to finish: 10 minutes
Servings: 12
4 Hass avocados, skins and pits removed
4 teaspoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
In a medium bowl, use a fork or potato masher to mash the avocados. The guacamole should be mostly smooth, but with visible chunks. Mix in the lime juice, cumin, salt and pepper. Proceed with the recipe using one of the following mix-in combinations.
Guacamole is best served right away and at room temperature. If you must make it ahead and refrigerate it, cover it with plastic wrap, gently pressing the wrap over the entire surface of the guacamole. This, combine with the acid of the lime juice, should prevent the guacamole from browning.
Sweet Heat Bacon Guacamole
Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, then set a wire rack over it. Coat the rack with cooking spray. Arrange 1/2 pound of bacon evenly on the rack. Sprinkle the tops of the bacon liberally with brown sugar. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until the bacon is lightly browned, crisped and the sugar has caramelized. Let the bacon cool, then cut it into bite-size chunks.
Mix a splash of hot sauce (more or less, to taste) into the base guacamole recipe, then mix in three-quarters of the chopped candied bacon. Sprinkle the remaining bacon over the guacamole, then serve.
Nutrition information per serving: 200 calories; 170 calories from fat (85 percent of total calories); 18 g fat (4.5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 15 mg cholesterol; 8 g carbohydrate; 5 g fiber; 3 g sugar; 4 g protein; 320 mg sodium.
Chipotle Corn Guacamole
In a medium skillet over medium-high, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add 1/4 cup diced red onion, 1 cup of corn kernels (if canned, drain them very well) and 3 minced cloves of garlic. Saute for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and let cool. Stir in 1 diced canned chipotle pepper (packed in adobo sauce). Stir the mixture into the base guacamole recipe, as well as 1 tablespoon (more or less, to taste) of the adobo sauce from the can.
Nutrition information per serving: 130 calories; 100 calories from fat (77 percent of total calories); 11 g fat (1.5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 8 g carbohydrate; 5 g fiber; 1 g sugar; 2 g protein; 170 mg sodium.
Shrimp And Mango Guacamole
Thaw a 9-ounce bag frozen cooked and peeled baby shrimp, then drain and pat them dry. Peel 1 mango, then cut the flesh away from the pit. Finely chop the mango, then stir it, the shrimp and a hefty splash of hot sauce into the base guacamole recipe.
Nutrition information per serving: 140 calories; 90 calories from fat (64 percent of total calories); 10 g fat (1.5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 30 mg cholesterol; 9 g carbohydrate; 5 g fiber; 3 g sugar; 6 g protein; 200 mg sodium.
Roasted Fresh Salsa Guacamole
When preparing the base guacamole recipe, omit the salt.
Slice 1 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes in half, then toss them with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper. Spread the tomatoes evenly over a rimmed baking sheet and roast at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Stir the roasted tomatoes, a 12-ounce jar of roasted red peppers (drained, patted dry and diced), 1/4 cup diced red onion, 1 diced jalapeno pepper (with or without seeds, depending on your heat tolerance) and 4 minced cloves of garlic into the base guacamole recipe.
Nutrition information per serving: 150 calories; 110 calories from fat (73 percent of total calories); 12 g fat (2 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 9 g carbohydrate; 5 g fiber; 2 g sugar; 2 g protein; 270 mg sodium.
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