Innovations in the avocado growing process have made it possible to minimise water use to levels well below the global average for other products. One kilo of avocado requires only an average of 600 litres of water to produce, which is below bananas, apples and rice.

Xavier Equihua, chief executive of the World Avocado Organisation, commented: “It is comical to see how these few London-based chefs propose to eliminate or substitute avocados with other products as is the case with the ‘fake’ guacamole made with a product that requires the equivalent of almost ten times more litres of water to produce a kilo of avocados.

“It is equally difficult to understand how they can talk negatively about a product with such a small water footprint when their menus are full of products that require thousands and thousands of litres of water to produce a single kilo.

“If they really wanted to be allies of the environment they would stop serving meat and dairy products and only serve products with a water footprint like avocados or less.”

The WAO said meat requires up to 14,000 litres to produce one kilo and they also pointed out that livestock production is the main agricultural source of greenhouse gases in the world. Avocados, on the other hand, are grown on trees which are considered the lungs of the earth because they convert carbon dioxide into clean oxygen.