Avocado toast is an open sandwich consisting of toasted bread topped with mashed avocado, plus any of a variety of spices and flavorful ingredients; the most popular include salt and black pepper, lemon juice or other citrus flavors, olive oil, hummus, vinegar, red pepper, feta, duqqa and tomato.
[2][3] Sliced or mashed avocado has been eaten on some sort of bread, flatbread, or tortilla (often heated or toasted) for centuries, before any documented or written history.
According to The Washington Post, chef Bill Granger may have been the first person to put avocado toast on a modern café menu in 1993 in Sydney,[9] although the dish is documented in Brisbane, Australia, as early as 1929.
The journalist and editor Lauren Oyler credited Cafe Gitane with bringing the dish to the United States in its "Instagrammable" form, as it grew as a food trend.
Bon Appétit magazine published a recipe for "Your New Avocado Toast" in its January 2015, and by 2016, the dish was being depicted on T-shirts, with the Washington Post calling it "more than just a meal – it's a meme".
[9] Jayne Orenstein of The Washington Post reports, "avocado toast has come to define what makes food trends this decade: It's healthy and yet ever-so-slightly indulgent.
[28][29][30] Tim Gurner, a 35-year-old Australian property developer, stated in May 2017 that millennials should not be buying smashed avocado and $4 lattes in their pursuit of home ownership.