“Invented” an alternative product designed to compete with avocados.
Arina Shokokhi, a graduate of London’s Central Saint Martins, has invented an alternative to avocado called Ecovado, which aims to reduce dependence on fruit imports. It is a green (of course) creamy textured flesh made from a variety of local produce and served in a waxy rind.
“The avocado has become a modern food culture icon, synonymous with hipster cafes and trendy Instagram posts. But its production requires a lot of energy and resources. Each bush needs 320 liters of water to produce a crop,” Shokokhi says. The girl also emphasizes that “meeting the global demand for avocados requires deforestation in various parts of the world.”
To come up with the ecovado recipe, Shokohi set to work with nutritionist Jack Wollman from the University of Nottingham. He helped her determine the chemical and molecular composition of avocados and showed her how to find suitable substitutes.
Main ingredients: beans, hazelnuts, apple and rapeseed oil. The inventor admits that getting close to the taste and texture of an avocado using only local, natural and light ingredients was a huge challenge.
During the work on the project, it became clear that products that seemed like ideal substitutes, such as olive oil, can be problematic. Instead, rapeseed oil was chosen, which has the same fatty acid profile as avocado but is widely available in the UK market. After many experiments, Shokohi settled on using nuts such as walnuts, chestnuts or hazelnuts.
The product was complemented by the manufacture of realistic “nests”, for the reproduction of which wax and food coloring were used. The packaging is biodegradable and compostable.
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