Zaboca

This is a chapter from my sixth book called Alphabet Soup - A different kind of cook book

I am not going to leave the best for last although Z is the last letter of the alphabet. It would have been A if I had chosen Avocado as the title. I guess I could say that this food is the A to Z of foods and this would be true since it is so versatile as we would see later in this chapter. Zaboca is the trini word for avocado. Did you know avocados are technically berries? They are classified as single seed berries according to the botanical definition of a berry because they develop from a single ovary and contain a fleshy pericarp surrounding a single seed. So how did we start calling it zaboca? I read this comment on the Wiwords Caribbean Dictionary by JVS that said, "In French it is Les Avocats but with the liaison and the silent trailing consonant, it is pronounced like "lezavoca" which becomes "zaboca"". But Tony Deyal in one of his writings funnily points out that boca is the Spanish word for mouth and that in the final analysis is what avocados are about, they taste good. I like that I came across Tony's writing in my research for this chapter because someone said that what I wrote for the chapter on bread reminds him of Tony Deyal's writing. God works in mysterious ways and great minds think alike I suppose.

Speaking of God, I wonder about the origin of the phrase "holy guacamole". I could not determine the origin but the phrase is a less profane way of saying holy crap. I have seen some places online describe the avocado as the fruit of paradise. Nonetheless I absolutely love guacamole which locals in Trinidad sometimes call zaboca choka. It is often said that you cannot make everyone happy if you are not an avocado. We may not wish to be a crowd pleaser but we can aspire to be versatile like an avocado. We can have an avo-can-do it attitude. The other day I went walking and bought back the biggest Pollock avocado. It was buttery and beautiful inside. A taste of heaven on Earth. And I paid good money for it. It is no wonder that some people call it green gold. I found a recipe for avocado and mango salad with lime seasoned with cilantro and red onions. I thought to myself that add some pepper and this is a chow. A zaboca chow.

Deciding when to cut the zaboca is a skill I have yet to master. I suspect this is something that no one masters. Also when purchasing zabocas it is hard to know if it will be good inside. Life is like a zaboca you never know what you will get. As I mentioned before, zaboca can teach us about being versatile. There are a myriad of things we can make with zaboca. From zaboca ice cream to zaboca pancakes to zaboca punch to zaboca gazpacho. Also, I always wanted to try the healthier avocado oil. Even there is zaboca butter which sounds and looks tasty. Interestingly zaboca is also known as butter fruit. The alternate name for avocados that I found interesting is "alligator pear". The name "alligator pear" comes from the fruit's rough, green skin, which resembles an alligator's hide. The variety they are referring to is Hass. That is the first 4 letters of my name and now I am curious about the name. According to wiki it was first grown and sold by amateur horticulturist Rudolph Hass, who also gave it his name. From rough skin to tough joke. It is tough to find zaboca jokes so I came up with my own explanation and a joke at the same time. Why are there not many zaboca jokes? Because the crowd always boos for the za-boo-ca jokes.

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