Over 111 million sports fans watched the Big Game last year, and nearly 64,000 sports fans will gather at the University of Phoenix Stadium on game day this year. The numbers are nothing compared to the amount of avocados – a food quickly becoming synonymous with the Big Game – Americans will consume this year. It’s estimated Americans will eat nearly 120 million pounds or 240 million fresh avocados during the week leading up to the Big Game on Feb. 1. That’s a whopping 3,785 avocados per seat in the University of Phoenix Stadium and it’s 21 percent more avocados than in 2014 – higher rates than ever before. The total amount of avocados consumed during the Big Game would be enough to fill an entire football field from end zone to end zone over 46 feet high.
While fresh avocados consumed during the Big Game are eaten in many ways, the most common is in the form of guacamole, and new research reveals that as rowdy Americans gather for the game, they try to stay well-mannered when they huddle around the bowl of dip.
Americans aspire to a higher standard of guacamole etiquette than we actually follow. While only 67 percent of guacamole eaters use a spoon to serve themselves guacamole, 81 percent believe it’s the actually the proper way to dip.
And, yes, the dreaded double dippers are among us. Four percent admit to double-dipping the same piece of food repeatedly, and two percent believe it’s the most appropriate way to eat guacamole.
When the guacamole supply runs low, Big Game rivalry extends to the serving bowl, especially for Millennials. 63 percent of guacamole eaters are comfortable being the person to take the last bite of guacamole from the serving bowl after asking if anybody else wants it. The youngest respondents, age 18-34, are most likely (24 percent) to try to be the person who gets to scrape the last bite of guacamole from the communal bowl because they want it for themselves.
No matter how you choose to dip, there’s no doubt guacamole made with Hass avocados is a staple in many Big Game celebrations. In 2014, Americans consumed 99 million pounds or approximately 198 million avocados during Big Game week. Ninety-eight percent of all avocados sold in the United States are the Hass variety – which contain naturally good fats and are cholesterol free.