Chinese shoppers develop taste for“awful” avocado
Print Edition
Zhang Meng eats avocado everyday. The 26-year-old bank clerk makes a smoothie with three avocados and a cup of yoghurt. “It tastes great,” she says. But for many Chinese, the dark-green, pear-shaped tropical fruit tastes greasy and bland — like butter.
“This is the most awful fruit that I have ever tasted,” wrote one Chinese web user on their Sina Weibo microblog account recently.
The avocado, native to Mexico and Central America, is called niuyouguo — butter fruit — by Chinese.
Julian Ventura, Mexican Ambassador to China reminds Chinese shoppers of the health benefits of his country’s opinion-dividing fruit.
“Avocados are healthy and nutritious, loaded with important nutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, fiber and healthy fats,” says Ventura.
And indeed the niuyouguo is slowly making inroads since the government granted market access to Mexican avocados in 2005, and to Chile and Peru in 2014.
An article titled “How to Eat Avocado with Style” drew 100,000 clicks on the WeChat instant messaging service.
Thousands of people share pictures of recipes on Weibo. It is promoted on e-commerce sites, and cooking sites have many avocado dishes, including salads, desserts and main courses.
Online popularity is supported by trade figures. According to China Customs, China imported 31,800 kilograms of avocado in 2011, but in 2014, it reached 4.07 million kilograms.
Healthier eating
“People are understanding the importance of nutrition and healthier eating,” says Gu Zhongyi, a nutritionist at Beijing Friendship Hospital.
He points out that one avocado usually contains 6.7 grams of dietary fiber per 100 grams, almost triple that of an apple. While a banana is considered potassium rich at 358 milligrams per 100 grams, an avocado has 485 mg.
In 2007, Zhao Guozhang, founder of Fruit Day, an online Shanghai fruit trader, ate avocado for the first time while traveling abroad. He appreciated its unique taste and decided to expand imports. At that time, an avocado cost 20 yuan (US$3.2) in high-end supermarkets on China’s mainland.
The high price and unfamiliar taste scared Chinese away. Zhao says most comments his company received in the early years were along the lines of “Weird taste!” and “How do you eat it?”
When the company began marketing the fruit by offering nutritional information and recipes in its stores, online shops and social media, sales began a slow but sustainable growth.
The surging popularity of avocado reflects the cosmopolitan tastes of China’s growing middle class, who are ready to pay a little extra to sample new flavors, particularly if they come with health benefits.
“More Chinese people are incorporating aspects of foreign cuisine and Western cooking styles into their diets,” says Zhao.
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