The vegetable that grew to become a social media phenomenon

• Avocados, which originated in Central America around 10 million years ago, narrowly avoided extinction after the megaherbivores that dispersed their seeds died out.
• Early human civilisations, including the Olmecs and Maya, played a crucial role in the avocado's survival by cultivating and selecting for desirable fruit traits.
• Initial attempts to establish avocados in the United States, particularly in Florida, were unsuccessful, but later efforts in California introduced cold-hardy varieties like the Fuerte.
• The globally popular Hass avocado was developed by Rudolph Hass in the late 1920s, named after him because his children favoured its unique fruit.
• Despite patenting the Hass tree in 1935, Rudolph Hass earned very little from his invention, even as his variety became the dominant avocado in the market.

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How avocados became one of the most Instagrammed foods in the world