LARA DOMINIQUE SOLANTE / COPY EDITOR

JACKIE MARQUEZ / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Every year, USD Dining hosts the Avocado Festival to celebrate all things avocado. The event, held outside the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, allows  students to try a variety of different  food products. Vendors hand out food and beverage samples, ranging from kombucha to avocado chocolate mousse, some of which were fan favorites.

Even though the festival is popular   among students,  it wasn’t always focused on avocados. Loryn Johnson, Marketing Director and Licensing Director for Auxiliary Services, explained how the festival began. 

“We actually started our annual festivals in the fall and the spring in 2013, and our first couple of  festivals in the fall were apple,” Johnson said. “Then we switched to avocado a couple years   after that when they started becoming hugely popular.”

USD sophomore Jane Hunt went with her friends to the event after hearing about it in class and shared some of her highlights from the festival.

“I got a coupon for a Chobani creamer for free,” Hunt said. “I also tried an avocado mousse — a chocolate mousse — and it didn’t taste like avocado at all. It was great.”

USD sophomore Alessandra Fiore also tried a few treats at the Avocado Fest, including a flavored soda from one of the vendors, which was her favorite item at the event.

“I got a really nice smoothie that had cinnamon, banana and avocado in it from Oatly,” Fiore said. “We also tried dirty sodas, except [the vendor] called them ‘clean sodas’ because they were from Olipop. [The vendor] put flavoring in it, and we did orange cream soda with dragon fruit flavoring. That was delicious.”

Aside  from  the  tasty  samples, students attended the Avocado Festival to connect with the USD community. For USD sophomore Kiara Bowser, the Avocado Fest was a great way to see everyone come together and celebrate.

“I like that it brings students together,” Bowser shared. “It gives [students] a chance to try new, fun foods.”

USD senior John Cizin, another festival attendee who went to support his friends in the student guacamole making contest, shared the same sentiment.

“I look forward to [the Avocado Festival] and the Strawberry Festival in the spring,” Cizin said. “It’s just fun. Me and my friends like to sample stuff. There are vendors, and we’ll try and see which ones are pretty good so that we can pick some stuff up from them later in the year. It’s just nice, and I like the music and community.”

One of the highlights of the Avocado Festival was the student guacamole making contest. Students compete to make the best guacamole, which the judges determined based on technique, taste and presentation. The winners of this contest, USD juniors Hailey Taylor and Ava Minney, will have their guacamole featured at Bert’s Bistro for the remainder of the fall semester, making it a high-stakes competition. 

As the judges prepared to taste the contestants’ creations, the pressure was on for the participants to impress them with their guacamole skills. USD Chef Manager of Pavilion Dining Alex Weltz outlined his criteria for the best guacamole.

“I’m looking for nice knife cuts,” Weltz stated. “Nothing too spicy because I’m not a huge fan of spice. Nice balance of flavors, and the main thing is a nice presentation.”

Even though the judges seemed pretty stern this year, USD first-years Maserati Hann and Kinsey Runquest shared their excitement in competing as a team for the first time. 

Students were able to try different samples featuring avocado. Shannen Swars/The USD Vista

“Overall, I’m just very excited,” Hann said. “Unsure if we’re going to win, but I’m sure we’ll crush it either way.”

Runquest   shared  that    she was mostly there for the experience.

“I’m just here to make good guacamole so I can eat it afterwards, mainly,” Runquest stated. “There’s a lot of good ingredients, and I’ve made guacamole before, so we’re just going to cut it up and hand it to [Hann] to stir.”

As the countdown for the competition began, the tension in the air was palpable. Students ran toward the ingredients table after hearing, “Go!,” grabbing avocados, tomatoes, onions and more. Back at their stations, the teams seemed to be neck and neck, chopping, mashing and stirring for the students to see and for the judges to judge. 

In the end,  USD juniors Taylor and Minney brought home the win, confident from the start that they were going to do so. The two have been roommates since their first year and won the avocado toast making competition during last year’s Avocado Festival.

“It’s epic,” Taylor declared. “Like, I just knew coming in that we were going to win again.”

Minney shared a strategy that the pair learned from their previous win that helped them this time around.

“We learned last time that if you add more of, like, the fun ingredients and unique flavors, it’s a bit more creative,” Minney explained. “And a lot of salt. People don’t ever add enough salt. Ever.”

Taylor also noted that the splashes of orange and pomegranate that they added might     have     aided  in   their   victory. 

For those who didn’t get to take home the win, getting to compete was victory enough. USD senior Shelly Coleman explained how much she enjoyed the contest, even though her and her teammate weren’t able to secure first place.

“It was really fun and exciting,” Coleman said. “It was fun to use my chef skills. I was looking forward to [the guacamole making contest] because I did [the avocado toast making contest] last year. It’s like ‘Food Network,’ in a cooking competition.”

Coleman’s teammate, USD senior Ethan Dixon, also enjoyed the competition, even though he was a last-minute addition invited by Coleman to join her team two hours before the event.

“The competition was surprisingly a lot of fun,” Dixon shared. “I actually hate guacamole and I never eat it, but it was actually a lot of fun to make it.”

The USD Avocado Festival brought students together for a day of flavor, fun  and friendly competition. From the vendors’ creative samples to the exciting guacamole making contest, students were able to enjoy themselves and all of the avocado-related treats. If you missed this year’s Avocado Festival, USD Dining hosts a different festival every semester. Next semester, students can indulge in all things strawberry at the Strawberry Festival. 

Students compete in the “Guac around the Kroc” guacamole making contest. Shannen Swars/The USD Vista