Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World: About the book...

Upcoming Events/Recent Media

JUNE 28: Vikram Doctor, writing in The Economic Times of India, features "Banana" in a an amazing two-part series that highlights the stunning diversity of his country's banana crop. This is truly a great article - you'll find dozens of different banana types listed here, along with stories about the way people eat (and love) the fruit in the world's top banana-growing (and most banana-crazed) nation. Part one here, part two here.
JUNE 20: One of my favorite public radio programs - NPR's To The Point, syndicated out of my local station, KCRW, interviews me about the future of the banana.
JUNE 20: The Daily Green uses the book and my New York Times column to put rising banana prices in historical context.
JUNE 19: Stephen J. Dubner, writing in his Freakonomics blog, says that my article answers a question he's "long wondered about: why are bananas so cheap relative to other fruit, especially since a lot of the fruit we consume in the U.S. is grown here while bananas are not?" (The book goes into detail about this, and more, of course!)
JUNE 19: Lewis Lapham, in The Huffington Post, writes about the book and the history of the banana republics in Central America.
JUNE 19: WFMY News, Greensboro/Winston-Salem/Highpoint, North Carolina, offers a video report on banana prices; I'm interviewed in it. Video here. Article here.
JUNE 18: Paul Krugman, again in his NYT blog, recommends the book.
JUNE 10: Guest spot on "After Hours," Canada's Business News Network. Go here; my segment is about three-fourths of the way in. (I have to say, I need some practice for television.)
MAY 22: Johann Hari, in The Independent, explains why "bananas are a parable for our times," and describes the book as "brilliant." This story was picked up in dozens of other media outlets.
MAY 14: I absolutely love Scienceblogs.com - there are over a dozen essential commentators writing there - and one of my favorites is Razib Khan, who runs the Gene Expressions blog. He did an extended and thoughtful review of the book and the issues surrounding it.
APRIL 23: Steve Mirsky interviewed me for the Scientific American's podcast. Topic: "Can Science Save the Banana?" Listen here. This was a fun one.
APRIL 20: Paul Krugman, blogging in the New York Times, recommends my book. He's reading an electronic version of it on an Amazon Kindle.
MARCH 17: The Nation calls "Banana" a "tale of a threatened species and the scientific heroes hunting to save the fruit," and a book with "a driving force and an urgency."
MARCH 13: Banana on American Public Media's "Splendid Table" - the ultimate radio show for foodies. Station listing here. Direct download here. Podcast here.
MARCH 8: Toronto Globe & Mail (March 8, 2008 ) calls "Banana" a "hard-nosed journalistic account" and "the book you've been looking for if you've heard rumours that the phallic golden fruit that adorns the breakfast table might be heading for extinction."
FEBRUARY 18: "Banana" on NPR's "Fresh Air." Download/Podcasts here.
FEBRUARY 14: Leonard Lopate's "Underreported," WNYC (New York Public Radio). Listen here.
FEBRUARY 11: Interview on Public Radio International's "Marketplace." Listen here.

"Banana" in the Blogs

About the book...

Is the banana going extinct? To most people, a banana is a banana: yellow and sweet, uniformly sized, always seedless. Americans eat more bananas than apples and oranges combined. In other parts of the world, bananas—like rice, wheat, and corn—are what keep millions of people alive.

The biggest mystery about the banana today, however, is whether it will survive at all. Every banana we buy is a genetic duplicate of the next; it’s this sameness that makes the fruit so easy to grow and transport. It’s also what makes the plant so frail, susceptible to blights that can quickly wipe out an entire crop. Our supermarket banana, the Cavendish, is rapidly succumbing to such a malady: Dozens of plantations across the world have already been ravaged by the (so far) unstoppable Panama Disease—and there’s no cure in sight.

In this fast-paced and illuminating narrative, award-winning outdoors and science writer Dan Koeppel takes us from past to present, jungle to supermarket, village to continent, to corporate boardrooms and kitchen tables around the world. Filled with colorful characters and startling revelations, his journey exposes the treacherous history of an iconic American business enterprise and the global quest to overcome the disease that now threatens to eradicate the fruit. Culminating with a fascinating look at the controversial intersection of food and science, Banana ultimately takes us to the high-tech labs where new bananas are literally being built in test tubes, in a race against time to save the world’s most beloved fruit.

now see the rest of this site for tons of interesting, strange, obscure banana news, thoughts, and observations.

or just buy the book

Posted on October 10, 2007 | Permalink

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What a bodice ripper. I had no idea one of my favorite fruits was in jeopardy.

I loved your previous book, To See Every Bird on Earth, even though it made me teary.

Posted by:WWofP | October 11, 2007 at 11:49 AM

I always tagged Dan as "nuts." Now I have to reformat all data; he's officially "bananas." CONGRATULATIONS, DAN ON YOUR ONWARD DRIVE OF DOMINANCE!

Posted by:mario | January 10, 2008 at 09:55 AM

Dan,

Your interest in Bananas is amazing. Good luck with your book, and I hope you can get some nice brazillian bananas...
If you ever come here again, in the Brazilian southeast shore we have the best Bananas of all. They are one bite sized, and ripe very fast. Usually we buy them by the branch, with 3 dozen bananas. If you take more than 2 days to eat them, it´s too late.

Sorry again if I´ve been too harsh.
Reagards,
Gabriel
http://www.donttalkaboutlife.com

Posted by:Gabriel | January 24, 2008 at 05:28 AM

Well written, well researched. Could there be a typo on p 258? Only 50,000 bananas daily? Maybe boxes? Truckloads? or maybe several zeros missing? Will someone please advise. Thanks.

Posted by:Elliott Royce | March 07, 2008 at 09:11 AM

you've got a way to go there guy.

haven't covered much of silver ridge,
franklin hills, or echo park east and
north of the lake. try the stairs from
the 1800 block of lucretia ave or go
way back north on echo park ave to
the end streets for spectalular views
of glendale and the san gabriel valley
opening. have fun? ps- there's spots
in echo park you can grow bananas-
wish i could remember where - used
to be a banana plantation on the
northern edge of la conchita, ventura
county beachside, still a few in the
carpinteria foothills. thankyou

Posted by:chris wall | April 12, 2008 at 04:50 AM

I hate bananas!

Posted by:Marlena Munoz | April 12, 2008 at 11:14 AM

Hello Dan,

I would be interested in hiking the staircases (4-5 mile) . Do you lead any hikes on the weekend or know anyone who does, i live in OC.

Regards,

Anju

Posted by:Anju | April 14, 2008 at 01:16 PM

Thank you for addressing this issue. I love bananas.

Posted by:Maria Perez | April 15, 2008 at 08:45 AM

Good to see you singing tonight. Keep spreading the good b-word!

Posted by:Darren Schmidt | July 12, 2008 at 12:00 AM

P. 250, "1920: The Fruit Dispatch Company is formed to distribute bananas in the United States."

The 1910 Sanborn map of Springfield MO shows, at the intersection of North Campbell & West Chase Streets, and next to the Frisco RR tracks, the Fruit House belonging to "Fruit Dispatch Co (New Orleans LA)." In 1910 my grandfather worked as a banana messenger for the FD Co and lived in Springfield.

Posted by:Mary Wilkinson | July 21, 2008 at 04:16 PM

Filmmakers Under Fire

"The Affected" is a new documentary that chronicles the lives of banana and sugar plantation workers in modern-day Latin America - and has uncovered a startling, ongoing nightmare: an epidemic of kidney failure among sugar workers, possibly related to pesticide exposure. The work the filmmakers have been doing has led to the killing of one crew member, and threats on the lives of others. You can read more about "The Affected" - and learn how you can help - here.

Banana News