Avocado is becoming more and more popular, but a lot more people injure their hand when trying to cut it. To prevent the dreaded so-called avocado hand, doctors from the UK asked for labels to be put on the fruit warning amateur chefs.
As eating avocado on toast, filled with a baking egg or on most anything is becoming more and more popular, people cutting their hand while trying to prep avocados for their meals is becoming a serious, dangerous trend. This usually happens when amateur chefs underestimate how hard the outer shell of the avocado is. Even Jamie Oliver has given advice on the matter.
And while trying to pierce it with a sharp knife, the blade slips and seriously injures their hand. It also happens when people, unsure of how to remove the pit, dig around the avocado with the knife and it also slips.
Avocado hand: stab and slash leads to permanent damage
And we’re not talking about a little “boo-boo” on a finger either. This concern is rooted in occurring injuries that lead to permanent nerve damage or actually require reconstructive surgery for the affected hand, according to The Times.
That’s why the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons is publicly taking a stand on the issue. “We don’t want to put people off the fruit, but I think warning labels are an effective way of dealing with this,” British plastic surgeon Simon Eccles says. “It needs to be recognizable. Perhaps we could have a cartoon picture of an avocado with a knife, and a big red cross going through it?”
Emergency rooms in Britain are apparently reporting on a “post-brunch surge” of hand injuries on Saturday afternoons. Eccles himself has said that he treats four people a week for avocado hand.
Try this wonderful Avocado Gazpacho, when you’re cooking with avocado.
Don’t worry, Meryl Streep had avocado hand, too
You know what? It even happened to Meryl Streep, back in 2012. She showed up at a press junket for her movie “Hope Springs” (in which she played opposite Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carrell) with a huge bandage on her hand. And according to her publicist, she did cut her hand while she was trying to slice that ever-elusive, tricky avocado.
But this problem goes back at least as far at least 20 years ago when the popularity of avocados first started to grow. In a piece in 2006, a “Guardian” journalist writes about the stigma of going to the hospital with avocado hand – after cutting his artery, no less. His doctor recognized his plight immediately and mentioned that he treats this affliction constantly. He quotes a surgeon as saying that “avocados should come with a health warning”.
All this doesn’t mean you should quit your avocado toast cold turkey (Mmm, that actually sounds like a good combo). Avocado still is one of the healthiest things around. It’s abundant in nutrients like vitamins K, C, B5, B6, and E. It has plenty of folate and potassium, but also magnesium and manganese.
And you can make so many things with it! Even desserts, since it’s a fruit. Like this great no-bake cheesecake.
Meryl Streep’s 2012 movie was called “Hope Springs.”
“Hope Floats” starred Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick, Jr. and came out in 1998.
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