Tuesday Tirade: Avocado Woe

There are worse things in life than a bland avocado, but when you are looking forward to an avocado and tomato sandwich, and the avocado is pale and has no taste, the enjoyment of breakfast has been thwarted.

With the transportation of fruits and vegetables from all over the world, eating fresh is a lot easier these days, although eating flavorful fruits and vegetables does not always come hand in hand.

Short growing seasons mean you have to take advantage of what you grow at the risk of becoming sick of eating another vine-ripe tomato or being inundated by beans that grow so quickly that by the time you pick through the row, there are beans ready to be picked again.

Timing is everything. We suffer through weeks of bad peaches for one glorious week of sticky, juicy, sweet, fall-off-the-pit delights, then risk another purchase only to be disappointed yet again. Many fruits and vegetables are picked unripe to prevent damage during shipping, but it also prevents taste.

In the dark, cold winter, we gaze at the plethora of produce, knowing that inside is not what we are hoping for, and wonder how much of this will go unsold and discarded. Way too much, I suspect.

Eating fresh and healthy is not cheap either. Oh, there are ways to minimize the cost: discount racks often will have almost unsellable selections—who cares about a few dark spots—but you need to be opportunistic and flexible—eggplant and rutabaga with supper again?

I now gaze at the bag of unused avocados (five remain), wondering if I will miss the one-hour window of ripeness that will occur in two, perhaps three days, before they descend into hard-shelled, overripe entities.

Guacamole, anyone?

-Leon

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Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/