Like the rest of his Beatles bandmates, George Harrison grew up in a working-class family in Liverpool. Also like the rest of the band, he found success, fame, and immeasurable wealth with the band, which gave him access to England’s upper class. Harrison’s first wife, Pattie Boyd, introduced him to one food he never thought he’d like based on its appearance.
George Harrison never dreamed he’d fall in love with ‘the avocado scene’
Being in The Beatles became more trouble than it was worth for Harrison in the mid-1960s. Playing live was such a hassle that he said the band really didn’t care about continuing after a New York City concert in August 1965.
By then, Beatlemania had already spread around the world. The band was just months away from receiving Members of the British Empire medals. Four working-class lads from Liverpool were firmly part of the cultural elite. For Harrison, that included acquiring taste — both culture and food — from his wife, Pattie Boyd, including a love for a fruit he never imagined he’d like — avocados (via 150 Glimpses of The Beatles):
(“The natural thing when you get money is that you acquire taste. I’ve got a lot of taste off Pattie. You get taste in food as well. Instead of eggs and beans and steak, you branch out into the avocado scene. I never dreamt I would like avocado pears. I thought it was like eating bits of wax — fake pears out of a bowl — when I saw people shoving it down.”)
(GEORGE HARRISON )
As a privately-educated, culturally-exposed world traveler (her family lived in several cities in England and Scotland as well as Kenya), Boyd was always a bit closer to the upper class compared to George’s upbringing in Liverpool. She rubbed shoulders with the cultural elite as a model before The Beatles found fame. When George and Boyd met in 1964, her taste for the finer things rubbed off on him. Apparently that included a love for avocados, a food Harrison never thought he’d enjoy.
George and The Beatles became musical trendsetters. He literally invented a chord on the Revolver song “I Want to Tell You.” With an assist from Boyd, Harrison was decades ahead of the avocado boom. And honestly, we can understand his apprehension about eating the fruit.
From the outside, avocados don’t look particularly appetizing — dark green and wrinkly. The fact the fruit turns brown within minutes doesn’t help the appearance. Yet when the moment arrives and a perfectly ripe avocado makes its way into a dish, it can be a game-changer.
Harrison’s other favorite foods caused some problems
Harrison and Boyd’s marriage wasn’t always full of blissful moments sampling avocados. Toward the end of The Beatles’ career, George went into a shell after a fight with his bandmates and wouldn’t even respond to Boyd’s efforts to console him.
Being married to her helped turn George on to the wrinkly-skinned fruit, but his diet and favorite foods led to some problems.
Harrison became a vegetarian when he started practicing Hinduism in the 1960s. He gave up eating fish, meat, and chicken but blamed his poor complexion and thin frame on his vegetarian diet.
Even with the money and success that came along with The Beatles’ fame, Harrison maintained simple tastes. He loved eating egg sandwiches. Yet he felt he couldn’t say so since a gift of a carton (or more) of eggs would invariably show up on his doorstep.
And let’s not forget that all The Beatles said they loved jelly beans, only for overzealous fans to pelt the band with them during concerts.
George Harrison acquired a taste for one kind of food via his marriage to Pattie Boyd — avocados. He never dreamed he’d fall in love with the waxy-looking wrinkly fruit, but he did. It’s a blessing fans didn’t throw the fruit at him like they threw jellies at The Beatles when they still toured.
