Salsa & Guacamole: Sunday’s Super Bowl Has Growing Ties To Colombia

The performance of Barranquilla-born Shakira in Sunday’s Super Bowl played at the Hard Rock Stadium outside of Miami is an obvious connection, but lesser known is the fact that 24 of Jennifer Lopez’s dancers are members of Cali, Colombia based Swing Latino salsa dance group.

And even though guacamole is Mexican in origin, the amount of the green dip made in the US with Colombian avocados is growing. According to figures from Colombia’s DANE Statistics Agency and ProColombia analysis, between January and November 2019, sales to the United States reached US $3.5 million—an increase of more than 470% compared to the same period of 2018.

Most avocados imported by the US come from México, though Colombian exports are growing. Last year, Colombia exported 541 tons of avocados to the US, and according to Jorge Enrique Restrepo, executive director of Medellín based trade group Corpohass, “in the three weeks prior to the Super Bowl there is a 30% increase in avocado consumption” in the US over yearlong averages.

Avocado photo courtesy InvestPacific

Shakira photo by Andres.Arranz

Original uploaded to www.arteyfotografia.com as Shakira Rock in Rio 08 003 – https://www.arteyfotografia.com.ar/3786/fotos/220156/, CC BY 2.5 es, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8620384