A ‘green carpet’ event was held at Ostro’s Screening Room in Auckland on 17 August to celebrate the beginning of the 2016-17 avocado season.

Attending guests include New Zealand celebrities, influential social media bloggers, high-profile chefs and New Zealand magazine editors, all of who are influential Kiwis who love avocados.

NZ Avocado hosted the launch party to celebrate the fruit’s enormous popularity and showcase its great flavour, versatility and health benefits. Guests were served five different avocado dishes to help whet their appetite and inspire new ideas about how to serve and enjoy this delicious fruit.

Avocados are set to return to NZ consumers in a big way. Trees bear fruit biennially, meaning they can produce a small crop one year which is often followed by a large crop the next. This summer is set to deliver a whopping 7.6 million trays, nearly double the volume available last year.

NZ Avocado Chief Executive, Jen Scoular, says this launch celebrated not only the biggest crop they have ever had, but also the fact that they are nearly half way to achieving their sales goal of $280 million by 2023. "Our nation is full of diehard avocado fans, so for many Kiwis 2016 is the year of the New Zealand avocado!  It’s also perfect timing for the All Black’s test this weekend, as we all know they are big avocado fans and the country can enjoy avocado dips and goodies while supporting our men in black.”

Popular author and Healthy Food Guide nutritionist Claire Turnbull spoke at the event about the incredible health benefits avocados have to offer.

NZ Avocado says that the fruit can legitimately be called a ‘superfood’. They’re full of healthy monounsaturated fats, which are great for the heart and cholesterol levels, and help keep appetite under control. Avocados are also packed with a wide range of essential vitamins and minerals, are low in sugar and sodium, and are a good source of dietary fibre.

Thanks to a growing body of scientific and nutritional research, avocados have never been more popular. They’re now the star attraction on breakfast menus worldwide, and have been called the ‘Oprah of Instagram’ thanks to the number of snaps people post of their favourite avocado creations. 

"The social media buzz and excitement around avocados returning to our supermarket shelves is unbelievable, so we want to grab this opportunity to showcase and celebrate everything we love about this amazing fruit,” says Scoular.