Why is everyone so obsessed with avocados?

They’re expensive and let’s face it, they’re just not that tasty. Trends come and go, but this current avocado-mania is just getting ridiculous.

For the first time in history, the British public bought more avocados than oranges last December, confirming our obsession with the mushy green fruit.

Not impressed

Consumption of avocados has skyrocketed over the past year, but it’s the constant dominating presence on social media which is perhaps most annoying.

For a start, as a fruit, they are hugely overrated. They’re not particularly sweet and they generally are devoid of a strong flavour that would merit its hype.

They’re arguably more tasty if you add salt to it, but don’t most things taste slightly better after a bit of salt is added? Basically, the taste of an avocado just doesn’t stand out.

Or maybe it’s the texture that drives people bonkers over it?

No. Again, it’s texture is just that of a bang average fruit – somewhere in between that of a mango and a banana. The comparison with the mango is an interesting one actually.

I could just about understand if Instragam wet itself over mangos, because no one can really deny that a sweet, ripe mango is just delicious. Avocados on the other hand, taste more like a sour mango that’s just about to go off.

Even if you were to accept that avocados taste alright, the price you have to pay for them is not far off extortionate. You can be paying up to £1 for just one avocado at Tesco when you could buy up to four or five oranges for the same price.

The supply of avocados is way below the demand, partly due to the fact that only Spain and Portugal grow them in Europe, meaning that most of the avocados people buy come from other continents.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGFZ7wjvNk0/

The social media craze is the most perplexing thing about the 2016 avocado phenomenon. It fills a huge chunk of people’s Instagrams, it’s the most pinned food on Pinterest last year and the subject of far too many Facebook memes and videos.

It’s seen as this healthy and trendy food, but people don’t put every healthy thing they eat on the internet. Avocados get their own special treatment.

It’s seen as this food with superpowers that will magically solve every health issue a girl has. Women’s Health genuinely recommends girls to put avocado onto EVERY food they eat at lunch, claiming that it helps you slim down, as well as being good for your nails, hair, skin and blood pressure.

This hysteria over its supposed health benefits, not really based on much scientific evidence, has made avocados the staple food of the “health girl” stereotype – the girls who pollute your Instagram feed with endless filtered photos of their avocado flowers or avocado on toast.

At the end of the day, the avocado’s popularity is reminiscent of most other internet trends, like planking or neck nominations.

People just don’t want to miss out on what’s current, so they’ll probably lose interest in it as soon as the new Harlem Shake comes along.