Avocados have become so popular, other fruits and vegetables are green with envy. The fruit – yes, avocados are classified as a fruit – is so beloved that it even has its own day: July 31. To celebrate, many stores and restaurants are making sure you get your dose of the superfood. In honor of the holiday, Chipotle won’t charge you extra for adding guac to your burrito or bowl. If you place your order on the website or mobile app, the fast-food chain will gift you free guacamole, according to Newsweek. So, treat yourself. After all, National Avocado Day comes but once a year.
Uberrito will give customers free sliced avocado or guacamole with their burrito or bowl after 3:00 PM. Carl’s Jr, the burger chain, will celebrate the launch of its Guacamole Double Cheeseburger by inviting customers to enter The Ultimate Avocado Brunch. All they have to do is follow Carl’s Jr’s Instagram page. When they see a National Avocado Day post, they just need to tag a friend who also follows Carl’s Jr and loves avocado to enter.
Del Taco will give customers a buy-one-get-one free deal on the Beyond Avocado Taco when they buy one through the app, per the Chicago Sun-Times. El Pollo Loco will give out free chips and guacamole with the online purchase of every regular-priced Family Dinner (with the coupon code GUAC). Rubio’s Coastal Grill is also giving out free chips and guac with any order (with a coupon at coupon at www.rubios.com/coupons/national-avocado-day.) If you go to Just Salad, but one Avocado Dreamsicle smoothie and get one free.
If that isn’t enough, how about getting paid to eat avocado? Mad Mex is offering customers $1 to add an extra portion of protein to an avocado quesadilla. Considering the health benefits of avocados, this is a no-brainer. Avocados are packed with “anti-aging, disease-fighting antioxidants,” according to Health.com, as well as nearly 20 different vitamins and minerals. The monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) in avocados have been known to slash “bad” LDL cholesterol and up “good” HDL levels. This helps lower the risk of heart disease, the #1 killer in both men and women. So, ignore all those people cracking jokes about ordering avocado toast for brunch because it’s saving your life!
Avocados originally came from Mexico and Central America, but the popularity of the fruit – the avocado tree is part of the flowering plant family Lauraceae, per Taste of Home, which designates the avocado as a fruit – has resulted in the food being grown all over the world. Still, most avocados are produced below the Mexican-US border, because the country is blessed with a year-round growing climate. Originally, Irishman Sir Hans Sloane called them “alligator pears,” but thankfully, that name didn’t stick. Also, while the fruit has more potassium than a banana, be careful with the peel. The skin and pit can be harmful, even toxic, to cats and dogs. So, when you get free guac today, it’s okay not to share it with your pets. Eat it all for yourself! Happy National Avocado day!