Avocado Essay

In today’s world of intermingled cultures, avocados and avocado byproducts are everywhere. During the past century, avocados have become such an american staple that it’s easy to forget that they did not originate in the United States. Avocados are have such a long lineage of cultivation and domestication that their true origins are unknown. However, plant distribution suggests that they are native to central Mexico where they were first called “āhuacatl” by the indigenous Nahuatl (Aztec) people. Though it’s physical journey from Mexico to the United States has been exceptional, its linguistic transformation from āhuacatl to avocado has been even more remarkable. The term “avocado” has changed in name and definition over forty times in the past millennium; first called āhuacatl by the Nahuatl, the term simply meant “fruit of the avocado tree.” However, new slang derivatives were quickly introduced and it later developed a secondary meaning of “testicle.” Similar to english, āhuacatl bore the equivocal meaning of “ball” or “nut” when used in the context of “testicle.” Had the name “āhuacatl” been easier to pronounce, it would have likely remained the same over the past 500 years. When the spanish conquistadors arrived in South America
Due to its close proximity to the West Indies, avocados were still referred to as alligator pears in Florida, whereas in California the term aguacate was still widely accepted. This left growers with the increasingly difficult of selling a product with so many different names. Therefore, many horticulturalists felt it was beneficial to market the fruit with the already widely accepted name “avocado.” As a result, the U.S. Department of Agriculture adopted “Avocado” as the official name of the fruit. Since then, avocado has become widely accepted within the United States and throughout the rest of