No free lunch, but avocados are cheap

Angeline Guhwa, a secretary at a legal firm in Harare, used to have burgers for lunch, or even a hotel meal. Now, like so many other Zimbabweans working in the capital, she often has no more than a couple of avocados: healthy, nutritious - and above all - cheap. From construction workers to middle managers, avocados mashed into buns are the new fast food. With greasy burgers and cholesterol-laden meat pies cut from people's diets, the University of Zimbabwe has hailed the fad. "The avocado pear works very well as a spread that can replace jam or margarine. They are very nutritious, and very good for good health," said a lecturer at the department of food sciences. But for Guhwa, a mother of two, the health benefits are secondary. "I can no longer afford to buy decent food for lunch, and that is why I buy the cheaper avocados and buns - at least, for all this I pay Zim $1,900 (US 35 cents) - a bun costs (Zim) $350 each, while an avocado pear goes for (Zim) $500," she told IRIN. A standard lunch at a decent food outlet currently costs a minimum of $12,000 (US $2) - well beyond the reach of most Zimbabweans struggling with an inflation rate of over 600 percent and 70 percent unemployment. "The price of bread went up last week, as did those of most basic commodities. Life is becoming unbearable for ordinary workers like us," said Guhwa. "I don't know what I will eat when the avocado pear season ends." The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) has criticised manufacturers for price increases and called on the government to reintroduce the subsidies for basic commodities that were removed last year as part of the recovery programme. Price fixing caused the parallel market to balloon, and left producers complaining that the retail price cap did not take into account their inflation-linked input costs. Unlicensed vendors are trying to cash in on the demand for cheaper fast food among urban Zimbabweans, raising disquiet in a country where hygiene laws were once strictly enforced. "My main concern is to have all my food sold out. I need money and I need to survive. The issue of hygiene is secondary - as long as people buy my food," one unregistered vendor at Harare's Speke bus terminus told IRIN. The Harare City Council's department of health has now begun to tackle the problem, closing down unlicensed outlets and fining the vendors, but an official said it was an uphill struggle. "It appears as if we are fighting a losing battle, because you arrest them today and you see them back on the streets the next day."