In May 2023, Jeff Miller, formerly an associate professor at Colorado State University and director of the Hospitality Management Program, celebrated his retirement from CSU with a LinkedIn post.
“To everyone who helped me on my journey, to all the students who patiently sat through my classes, to all the cheerleaders and wiser heads who pushed and pulled through the years — I toast you,” he wrote. The comments are full of grateful students and staff, all congratulating him on his retirement and thanking him for his contributions to CSU, which includes recounting the history of a unique fruit.
One of Miller’s most notable works is a book simply titled Avocado: A Global History. In the book’s synopsis, Miller refers to the avocado as the “most iconic food of the 21st century” despite the avocado’s departure from conventional food norms.
Its unique characteristics, including a baby-food-like texture, absence of sweet, spice or sour, and a bitter taste when cooked, add to the intrigue surrounding its meteoric rise as both an American culinary staple and pop culture icon. How could this peculiar green fruit overcome high prices, its acquired taste and relative unfamiliarity to become the culinary underdog story of our time?
To Miller, this unexpected trajectory makes the avocado the perfect subject for a novel-length analysis. In Avocado: A Global History, Miller explores the many factors contributing to the avocado’s ascent, including a nationwide shift in nutrition attitudes and an exceptional marketing campaign, from obscurity to competing with the apple for the most popular fruit in the United States.
He spotlights the avocado’s 100-million-year history with captivating analysis, enriching the narrative with quirky stories, fun photos and recipes, in a quick 144 pages. Through engaging prose, exceptional storytelling and a witty narrative voice, Miller succeeds in evoking empathy for the avocado and its unlikely rise to fame.
Miller, a self-proclaimed “curmudgeon” known by students as “Chef,” dedicated over two decades to CSU’s Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. He’s known for his relentless dedication, a trait traced back to his two-decade career as a professional chef before working as a professor. While at CSU, Miller was named the 2017 CAFÉ/Sysco Corporation Educator of the Year after receiving endorsements from countless students, faculty and staff, perhaps due to his involvement in creating the student-run campus restaurant Aspen Grille.
