Apparently, ‘avocado-related injuries’ are a thing, and they are sending more people to hospital than ever before.
According to The Times, amateur chefs (aka avocado novices, or avonovices as they shall henceforth be known) are risking life and limb to create the perfect avo snack.
2016 was the year the humble avocado went viral. Post continues after video.
They’re showing up to accident and emergency departments as a result, with what doctors are calling “avocado hand”: stab and slash injuries that are a direct result of (failed) attempts to cut open the fruit’s skin and remove the stone.
Some injuries are so severe they can lead to nerve and tendon injuries that need intricate surgery and may lead to permanent damage of the hand.
Delicious, yes. But also dangerous.
Things are getting so serious that the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons is calling for the fruit to come with safety labels.
"People do not anticipate that the avocados they buy can be very ripe and there is minimal understanding of how to handle them," former president of the plastic surgery section of the Royal Society of Medicine, Simon Eccles, said.
"We don’t want to put people off the fruit but I think warning labels are an effective way of dealing with this. It needs to be recognisable. Perhaps we could have a cartoon picture of an avocado with a knife, and a big red cross going through it?"
Even global treasure Meryl Streep could benefit from such a label: in 2012, the Oscar-winning actress was photographed with a giant bandage on her left hand, after she sliced it cutting an avocado.
This just in. Meryl Streep cut her hand while slicing an avocado. Thanks E! Network for keeping me in the loop. God I can exhale now.
— cady groves (@cadygroves) August 8, 2012
Given Australia is the unofficial avocado capital of the world (after all, it is the reason so many young Aussies can't afford to buy their own homes), avocado hand is bound to be a problem here, too.
So how do we stop these avo-mergencies from happening?
Well, aspiring chefs are being told to step up their slicing game. It's time to go from avonovice to avo-expert, stat.
Executive chef at the Michelin-starred Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, Jeff Bland, told The Telegraph the best way to cut the fruit is to place it flat on a surface, with a hand on top and gently make incisions around the stone.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has his own preferred method of slicing open the tasty snack:
The basic premise is to keep your hands as far away from the knife and the avo as possible. Sounds simple enough right?
Hopefully, proper knife skills can stop the avocado's reign of terror.