Senior center’s Monday Munch has avocado but no pi

OK, you missed Pi Day at the Charlotte Senior Center. Since 3, 1 and 4 are the first three significant figures of π, March 14 is the day chosen to celebrating Archimedes’ constant. So, no Pi at upcoming Monday Munches, but brownies and cream puffs with ice cream for sure aren’t to be sneezed at.

Following an eye-catching headline, “Why America Now Eats a Crazy Number of Avocados,” The Wall Street Journal notes three “dazzling creations have swept the nation in the 21st century, Facebook and the I phone — and the avocado.”

I use neither Facebook nor the I phone, but Holy Guacamole! I may not quite be in the camp of the many people now substituting the avocado for that fruit in the old adage “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” but note: People in the U.S. consume 9 pounds of avocados each year.

Nine pounds.

Avocados require quite specific cultivation conditions, and one area with ideal conditions is the Michoacán, Mexico. As The Wall Street Journal notes, “What Michigan is for cars, Michoacán is for los aguacates.”

Tancitaro, a municipality of about 30,000 people in Michoacán, is known as Mexico’s avocado capital. Because the avocado industry is quite lucrative, organized crime targets Tancitaro. Both BBC and NPR have run articles on avocado protection squads — trained officers wearing bulletproof vests — to protect the avocados and the people who pick them.

Residents of Charlotte might find it either amusing or astounding that, in one of those “eye of the beholder” moments, NPR termed this municipality of 30,000 as “a small farming town.”

In the early 2000s, with federal help, California avocado growers rebranded avocados as a superfood. Growers lobbied Congress to establish a federal program, collecting 2.5 cents for every pound of fresh Hass avocados sold in the U.S., whether they were grown domestically or imported. That fee funded marketing campaigns rebranding the avocados as a superfood offering health benefits. Sales turbocharged across the country.

David Fairchild (1869-1954), an employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, didn’t need a marketing campaign to term the avocado “a food without rival among the fruits, the veritable fruit of paradise.”

Fairchild traveled the world, bringing back seeds or cuttings from over 200,000 kinds of fruits, vegetables and grains. After research due diligence, his department distributed new crops to farmers. A Smithsonian Magazine article ‘America’s First ‘Food Spy’ Traveled the World Hunting for Exotic Crops” said, “The next time you devour an overpriced slice of avocado toast, munch on some kale or serve yourself some quinoa, you’re sampling just a few of the crops that Fairchild introduced to the American public.”

Writer Daniel Stone credits Fairchild with introducing innumerable exotic plants: kale from Croatia, mangoes from India, hops from Bavaria, peaches from China, avocados from Chile and pomegranates from Malta. We can also thank him for soybeans, pistachios, mangos, nectarines, dates and flowering cherries.

Avocados came up briefly in Andy Borowitz’s recent online conversation with Paul Krugman. In this absorbing exchange, a critical question came up: “Who’s going to pick those avocados?” Krugman emphasized, “These are the people who feed us.”

The online Merriam-Webster Dictionary not only defines words but reaches beyond the definition with provocative information. It tells us that the etymology of the word “avocado” is a modification of Spanish “aguacate,” from the Nahuatl āhuacatl word for testicle. It’s first known use was in 1696.

Some other words or phrases introduced that year include alligator pear, attic, burlap, cosmogony, explosive, Julian calendar, liver pudding, peppermint, potbelly, prickly pear and snake in the grass.

Words that rhyme with avocado include adelantado, bravado, desperado, incommunicado, machado and mikado.

Now, you’re all set to write an avocado poem. While enjoying tasty soups and tempting desserts at the Charlotte Senior Center, you can share your poem with the friendly group of people there.

Monday Munch,
March 24, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Mulligatawny soup, green salad, rolls and ice cream with mini cream puffs.

March 31, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Festive tortellini soup (with sausage), green salad, bread and brownies with vanilla ice cream.

Good food for young minds is always available at the Little Free Library for Kids, outside the Charlotte Grange at 2858 Spear Street. There, children of all ages, from babies through teens, will find an ever-changing collection of alluring books to entertain, delight and astound.

Invite a child to go choose a book to take home. This effort is supported by the senior center board of directors and The Flying Pig Bookstore.

Important note: Nobel Prize in Economics recipient Paul Krugman’s interest in economics began with the pleasure he found in Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” novels.

I note with great sadness the passing of Joan Braun, a valued member of my senior center cooking team. We were one of the first teams to populate the kitchen. It wasn’t as easy as pie, but we enjoyed busy, laugh-filled (occasionally scary) times together. That spirit is still omnipresent in the kitchen. Every Monday.