Via John Aravosis, it appears that the banana as we know it is doomed to extinction which is too bad because I really like bananas.
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Bananarama
22 Jun 2008 01:07 pm
Comments (28)
Bananas are OK, but the way I really like them is in banana bread.
What happened to Petey? Did he flame out entirely or does he still show up now and then? I saw he popped up a week or so ago to call Ezra a scumbag. Any other incidents?
which is too bad because I really like bananas.
And yet Americans tend to eat shitty bananas, because the US market is supplied for the most part from mainland South America, rather than the Caribbean islands that provided their former colonial powers with 'nanas. Of course, the US, pushed by Big Banana, doesn't like that one bit.
Still, even a lovely Windward Island banana ain't the same as the Gros Michels our parents ate if they were lucky.
(Nicest bananas I ever had? Fist-sized, sold by the roadside in southern Nepal. Cost about a penny each.)
At the bottom of this person's blog post is a picture of a wild banana, cut in half. I'm sheltered, but I was amazed that the seeds were that big. I didn't realized that domesticated bananas are the equivalent of seedless watermelons.
Another liberal fantasy. There's no way God would let "the atheist's nightmare" go extinct. It would totally invalidate the theory of intelligent design.
Can't we just clone bananas? Somewhat related, I read the other day bananas help break down alcohol, so if you're ever competing in a drinking contest you should eat banana first. The internet told me so it must be true!
Not until I went to SE Asia did I see how impoverished our banana selection is in this country -- large ones, small ones, fat, thin, brown, yellow, red, ones with a hint of strawberry in the flavor, some with a silky smooth texture. Apart from some Asian markets in U.S. cities, we're stuck with same old, lame old banana. At least now I know it's called a Cavendish.
Not until I went to SE Asia did I see how impoverished our banana selection is in this country -- large ones, small ones, fat, thin, brown, yellow, red, ones with a hint of strawberry in the flavor, some with a silky smooth texture. Apart from some Asian markets in U.S. cities, we're stuck with same old, lame old banana. At least now I know it's called a Cavendish.
Dammit! southpaw beat me to the low-hanging "atheist's nightmare" reference.
I'll just add that the banana used as an example by Kirk Cameron & the other idiot in the "nightmare" video is an almost wholly man-made product, genetically altered to arrive at its current form.
One could, I guess, argue that god acted through the scientists that brought about the banana as we know it, but I get the impression evangelicals don't much care for genetic tinkering.
Over the past decade, however, a new, more virulent strain of Panama disease has begun to spread across the world, and this time the Cavendish is not immune.
There must be some mistake -- for that to happen, pathogen would have to evolve. And we all know that there's no such thing as evolution...
It's not the banana that's in danger, it's the cheap banana.
Hmm. The main point of contention between the Times and snopes seems to be whether there is good reason to believe the disease will reach LA plantations (Times says yes, snopes says no). I wonder if there's new reasons to think the disease will travel that were not the case in 2003 when the snopes article was written.
Agreed with boffo, The quality and variety of bananas in SE Asia is a glorious thing. For mass produced, mediocre varietals of good fruit, I'll take the Cavendish over "Red Delicious" every time.
My local grocery store sells a smaller, red banana with better flavor than the cavendish for 1.49 a pound (about 2X the price of the Cavendish). I only buy them once in a while, not because of the price but because of their shorter shelf-life. I should really buy them more often. even when they get overripe they make a much more flavorful banana bread.
Ok, I guess there's no Petey. Because if there were, he would have pissed off somebody and that person would have taken the chance to unload.
Wow. Just read the 'Times article &... seriously? The banana industry wields (or least used to wield) enough power to overthrow a government & install a more compliant ruling class? With the assistance of the US military? And since the US military isn't, in its free time, a mercenary outfit, that would mean US government complicity.
I can only conclude we'll never hear about the banana industry's surprising influence on America's foreign policy for one reason:
While it's de rigueur to accuse some congress-critter or other to be aligned with "Big Pharm" or "Big Oil", no-one wants to write the lede: "US Congress in the Pocket of Big Banana".
Frankly, I love bananas, and that's why I am pro-blight. In the 50s and 60s we had an earlier blight which wiped out the tastier Gros Michel. Unfortunately, this blight hit at precisely the time when corporations and growers cared least about flavor, giving us the Cavendish. Now I am hoping that a blight will combine nicely with the food revolution in America to give us a bit more flavor.
When you eliminate genetic diversity, you destroy species. Which is why the American "every orange needs to be perfectly round and day-glo orange" attitude is so destructive.
Ex-sitcom star Kirk Cameron keeps claiming that bananas prove intelligent design, because bananas are so convenient for humans-- but if God created bananas for humans, why does he keep trying to destroy bananas???
I rest my case.
Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just glad to see me, Matt?
"Bananas have not had sex in 10,000 years"
And that is different from Star Trek nerds, how?
Didn't Charlie Black do some lobbying for Chiquita Banana?
The banana industry wields (or least used to wield) enough power to overthrow a government & install a more compliant ruling class?
Americans have short memories: it isn't too long since Big Banana wielded its yellow muscle in the US courts, and Chiquita has more recently been alleged to have links to FARC.
Well, Big Banana's power is why we have the term "banana republic." A banana republic is one of those little Latin American countries that got kicked around so Chiquita's interests could be protected.
Still wondering about Petey, or "the Pee," as he might sometimes be called.
Still wondering about Petey, or "the Pee," as he might sometimes be called.
Check the basketball threads, fool. But why are you so concerned about the lack of trolling?
I eat 1-2 bananas a year. Unlike 99% of the globe, I fucking HATE bananas.
The taste of a banana makes me gag. I can eat them for a little while but most of the time I can't even finish the first one: if I took more than 2-3 bites I would throw up because my body finds these bananas so revolting.
Stm177,
I don't think they are quite the equivalent of seedless watermelons. Seedless watermelons, as far as I know, need to be created anew each time you growth them (they double the chromosome number in one parent and then create a sterile triploid hybrid) whereas bananas are a stable sterile triploid that reproduces vegetatively.
I don't think there is that much danger of the banana species going extinct, it's more that the Cavendish cultivar could become unviable. So there will still be bananas, just maybe not as affordable or available.
Apparently, people in Uganda eat about 1,000 pounds of bananas per person per year.
Comments closed July 06, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Yes, we have no bananas.
Posted by Ed | June 22, 2008 1:18 PM