I am a big fan of avocados, as I’m sure many of you are as well. But why the obsession these days? Consumption is very clearly up. Sure they’re healthy, but what else is driving their celebrity status?

Here’s an excerpt from a recent New Yorker essay called, A Grand Unified Theory of Avocado Toast:

Today, nine out of ten imported avocados in the U.S. are from Mexico.

The change resulted from the North American Free Trade Agreement. Their effects on the consumer avocado market were profound: from the mid-nineties through 2014, the United States’ avocado consumption nearly quadrupled. Average consumption rose from less than two pounds per person per year to about seven. In the nineties, the United States was producing more than eighty per cent of the avocados that it ate. More recently, it has grown fewer than twenty per cent. The twenty-first-century explosion of avocado smoothies, avocado ice cream, avocado life, in other words, is not in your imagination. It reflects a foreign influx of the fruit, mostly made possible by NAFTA.

If you also love avocados and you’re curious as to why avocado toast has become the poster child for Millennial self-indulgence, you may want to read the full article.