Aboriginal to Mexico and Central America, the avocado tree has migrated its way into North America, and has since spread throughout the world.
In English, avocados have been known by over forty different names, including: Alligator Pear, Butter Fruit, Butter Pear, Custard Apple, Laurel Peach, Midshipman’s Butter, Shell Pear, Spanish Pear, Subaltern’s Butter, Testicle Fruit, and Vegetable Marrow.
In the nutrition reference book, Whole Foods Companion, it is written, “The English word avocado is a corruption of the Nahuatlan Mexican ahuacatl, itself an Aztec shortening of ahuacacuahatl, which means testicle tree. The Aztecs explained that their ahuacatl was given the name not only because the fruit resembled a testicle and grew in pairs, but because it greatly excited sexual passion.”
The avocado is the new world olive. It is the fatty fruit that dominates the Americas as the olive dominates the Mediterranean world.
The avocado has a huge variety of tastes and flavors — over 500 different types have been identified. Avocados very rarely ripen on the tree. They ripen on the ground as most fatty fruits do. Each variety in and upon itself is very sensitive to environmental conditions and picks up a superior taste when grown in mineral-rich soil and is left to ripen naturally. Some of the heavier varieties, such as Reed, Cannonball, Pinkerton, etc. should be left on the tree for at least one year to allow their true oil content to set in.
The favorite food of raw-foodists all over the world: The Avocado.
Avocados are a rich, emerald cream. The gentle flavor, high-fat content, smooth texture and natural oils within them make avocados an ideal beauty food, and an excellent baby food.
There is no doubt about it, avocados are the best transition food from a cooked-food diet to a raw-food diet. Fatty raw plant foods are remarkably satisfying. Fatty foods in general (nuts, seeds, coconuts, avocados, olives, durians, etc.) transition you from cooked foods to raw foods — they are the bridge.
The avocado is in ascendancy right now worldwide; more and more people are discovering its secrets. You want to know how powerful the avocado is? The avocado can help save the human race because avocado fat replaces meat and dairy fat. The avocado replaces resource-depleting animal products in the diet. Keep in mind: at least 260 million acres (1.05 million square kilometers) of United States’ forests have been cleared for cropland to fuel the meat-centered diet; the percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly attributable to livestock raising is 85%; more than half the water used in the U.S. is used for livestock production; 2,500 gallons of water is required to produce one pound (0.45 kg) of meat. Avocado trees not only provide food, they also create clean air, beautify topsoil and provide homes for wildlife.
Many raw foodists I have met have eaten one to three avocados nearly every day since they started on a program of natural nutrition. Most seem to never get tired of them! I know raw-foodists who have been eating one avocado nearly every day for five, ten, even twenty years.
One day I was at the beach looking for a place to surf while eating an avocado. A gentleman walked by, looked at me, and commented, “soul food.” He was right. Avocados are soul food. They feed our essence.
Sometimes rich fatty raw food is challenging on an individual with a compromised liver or with weak digestion. The digestive energy required to digest rich fatty raw food is eased when these foods are blended in smoothies, raw soups or when eaten with green leaves. Digestive enzymes rich in lipase also assist with fat digestion.
Almost every raw foodist I have ever met is an avid fan of the avocado. But, some wonder whether or not they are addicted to the fruit. What they are feeling is not an addiction per se, but a manifestation of the body’s desire for fat. To get off avocados, simply replace them with another fatty plant food. Soft, young coconuts make an excellent replacement. Nuts and seeds work great. Sun-ripened olives are also an ideal fatty food. Optimally, I think it is excellent to move around the fat category eating macadamia nuts for several weeks, then olives for several months, eating some avocados, bringing in some durian, then pecans. This is how I have come to eat raw plant fats. This gives your body some variety and makes your diet easier on the digestive organs, especially the liver.
A New World treasure —
Never found?
Which ripens amongst
Leaves on the ground?
The smooth, rich taste
The Mayan fruit.
The raw-wild flavor
Behind Pan’s flute.
Sexual passion
An instantaneous connection.
Smooth, clear skin
A perfect complexion.
The emerald idol
An erotic oil
The polished leaves
From exotic soil.
Indulge your lips
In fertile cream.
Awaken to a
Wonderful dream.
The misty forest
The secret delight.
Urban fruit foragers
In avo-groves at night.
They gaze upon
The twilight sky
As silver jewels
Sway nearby.
The bass, the beat,
The tribal drum,
The Sunfooder singing:
“I’ve got to have one.”
The dictated cry, that:
“Thin is in”
Can never bring forth
The beauty within.
“Fat’s where it’s at!”
Says the tribal man.
A filled luscious body
Is Nature’s plan.
Sensual compassion
The Avocado transition;
The jungle fruit
Has come to fruition.
The searching masses
With food to burn
Perhaps one day
Will listen then learn
That the golden secret
Of El Dorado
May be found within
The Avocado.
