It was the food trend that launched a million hot takes, not to mention jokes about millennials: avocado toast. That delicious (and healthyish) staple of cafe menus and foodie diets, began taking over the world in the late aughts, and we haven’t looked back since.
Rivals have come and gone, but a recent trend has us wondering if we have a contender on our hands. If you’ve missed it in your Instagram for some reason and haven’t guessed what this avocado toast rival is, its name is sweet potato toast, and it’s really not even toast.
That’s right, the one key difference, though is the sweet potato is the toast, and you can spread other stuff on it. Crazy, right?
The trend has largely been of the social media variety — meaning we’ve seen it in the feeds of our friends rather than on restaurant menus. That said, at Austin, Texas, esteemed Mr. Natural — an iconic vegetarian restaurant with an awe-inspiring mural of famous vegetarians — they’ve started offering sweet potato waffles, which means it’s only a matter of time.
HOW HEALTHY IS SWEET POTATO TOAST?
All of this got us wondering: Is sweet potato toast definitely good for you? And if so, how so?
First things first: Nutrition is contextual, and you’ll want to eat a balance of foods to ensure you’re meeting your nutritional needs and goals. But you knew that already. The main questions with sweet potato toast are: What do you gain by eating it? And what do you lose by substituting it for something else?
Sweet potatoes are loaded with healthy nutrients, including the antioxidant beta-carotene. vitamin C and potassium. They can act as an anti-inflammatory. Unlike toast, they’re naturally gluten-free. And they’re high in fiber, something most Americans don’t get enough of. (Though more on that in a minute.) And for those of you on a diet, a slice of sweet potato toast will have roughly half the calories of a slice of whole-wheat toast. Sweet potato toast is also lower in sodium by about 100mg, which isn’t a lot, but it isn’t nothing, either. Finally, if you’re interested in the Paleo diet (or its variations), you’ll be replacing a processed food with one that isn’t processed.
Got all that? Good. If you’re ready to try the trend, here are a few ideas to get you going.
BUILD YOUR OWN SWEET POTATO TOAST
Step 1: The Prep
Take a cooked sweet potato, and slice it to the desired thickness (no need to peel it). Place it in your toaster. Toast, as desired, and note it might take a couple turns to get it right.
Step 2: The Toppings
This is the fun part. Take just about anything you’d put on regular toast — nut butter, eggs, hummus — and put it on your sweet potato toast. As for spreading avocado on your sweet potato toast, combing the trends into an unholy union called avocado sweet potato toast (or is that sweet potato avocado toast?), well … go right ahead.
Step 3: Instagram It
To be clear, this is totally optional. But it seems like what people are doing, so #sweetpotatotoast to your heart’s content. (You’re on your own for choosing a filter, though.)
Step 4: Eat and Repeat
To taste.
