Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World

Do Monkeys Eat Bananas?

At my recent reading at Warwick's bookstore, I was asked why monkeys peel bananas "upside-down." My flippant answer was that I don't answer "monkey questions," but the truth is that I just didn't know. However, Slate, the online magazine that usually writes about important things, answered the question in 2002. "Monkeys are the real experts" in peeling bananas, writes Steven E. Landsberg during a discussion of whether bananas are better eaten - by humans - from the bottom up. (I vote against. He's non-committal; Landsberg also claims to know a guy who "scoops out the seeds" before eating a banana. Since bananas are seedless, this is a miracle, and whoever this fellow is, he needs to talk to banana breeders immediately.)

Some other general monkey/banana questions:

Q: Do monkeys eat bananas?
A: Yes.
Q: Do they peel the bananas prior to eating.
A: Yes - see above.
Q: Why do monkeys eat bananas?
A: Because they're delicious and available - same reason we do. Plus, monkeys are hungry l'il rascals, aren't they?
Q: Are gorillas litterbugs?
A: See first picture.
BONUS QUESTION: Do gorillas get bananas from trees, or vending machines?
A: See the bottom of this post.

(BTW, The monkey is Magilla Gorilla, one of Hannah-Barbera's 1960s stable of challenged anthropomorphic Saturday morning fun-time pals. See more of this huggable, luvable simian after the jump.)

Brazil - world's tastiest bananas?

There was recently some debate on a blog over whether the loss of the endangered Cavendish might not be such a big problem; a poster from Brazil pointed out that there are many unique bananas available in that country.

True enough, though all have problems that most likely make them poor candidates for global Cavendish replacement. Nevertheless, if you get to Brazil, you should try them. Here - again, inspired by the Brazilian blog poster - are three of the "Fabulous Five."

Nanica: This is a banana that stays a bit green, even when ripe. But that doesn't mean it isn't a good-tasting banana. The Brazilian Fruit website describes it as "sweet, tender and pleasantly aromatic."

Prata: The Prata is a less-sweet banana that grows very well and resists lots of diseases. It is a bit sour, which makes it a less-than-great Corn Flake candidate - but a great potential superstar in a market that might diversify to include varietal bananas (just as we've seen the number of apple types available in stores explode from the days when we simply got red delicious and granny smith fruit.)
Here's a recipe for the savory Prata banana pastry pictured above, from the "Taste of Brazil" Web site.

Maça: The Maça is known as an "apple banana," because it has a taste and texture similar to that fruit. They're yummy, though a bit of an acquired taste for Americans used to their sweet (and somewhat bland) Cavendish variety. A Brazilian breeder told me that he had "high hopes" that apple bananas might become a global staple - but added: "As long as the sweeter bananas exist, there's little incentive for banana companies to make that happen."

This book (might one day) be printed on banana paper

Note: This entry originally appeared on the Penguin authors' blog, which I contributed to this week.

If you've bought my book, then you know that the subject - saving the banana from a disease that currently threatens it - has, as its background, the notion of monoculture: relying on a single crop, rather than diverse ones, leaving that crop open to all-in-one-blow disasters.

One way to expand bananas beyond the modern monoculture would be to recognize that the fruit is usable for other products. One of the most intriguing of these is paper. The banana "tree" isn't a tree at all - it is a giant herb. That means a lot of things (for example, a banana plant has no bark), but for the sake of making paper, the big advantage is this: a banana plant grows like crazy. A productive plantation can see tiny stems reach as high as twenty feet in a single year. Each "tree" produces one bunch - about 150 individual bananas - of fruit per year; it then gives "birth" to another tree. The process can continue virtually forever. The big question has been what to do with those giant trees, which quickly fall over one they've fruited, and usually are discarded after they've been.

More after the jump; or watch this informative (but very dry) video about the banana paper manufacturing process.

Guest-blogging at Penguin

All this week. More consumer and publishing-oriented banana information, as well as a couple of "out-takes" from the book (director's cuts? Who knew? Link.)

"Mom on Wet Banana"

Despite the title - which is a direct quote - this video is both amusing, nostalgic (for those familiar with the Wham-O "Slip-N-Slide") and safe for work. (I'm posting it as a memorial to Richard Knerr, co-founder of the company that invented the Wet Banana, as well as the Hula Hoop, Hoppity-Hop, and Frisbee, who passed away last week.)

First Pictures - Transgenic bananas in Ugandan field trial

For reasons I go over in the book, I've come to believe - and I never thought I'd feel this way when I started my research - that transgenic, or GM (genetically modified) bananas are the most likely answer to the diseases that now threaten the crop's future. Transgenics are especially key in Africa, where bananas are the primary supplier of calories for millions of people. The loss of local banana crops in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi would be catastrophic.

For years, banana scientists have been fighting to get permission to launch limited trials of the transgenic fruit. Last year, a team led by Rony Swennen, head of the Division of Crop Biotechnics and the Laboratory of Tropical Crop Improvement at Belgium's Catholic University of Leuven (whew! link ) was finally allowed to begin trials of lab-bred bananas at Kawanda, Uganda. The pictures below, taken January 15 - the plants are about eight months old - are the first to be released of the future fruit. About another five years of testing will be needed to see if these plants resist the diseases - especially an airborne blight called "Black Sigatoka" - that are currently causing drastic losses in banana productivity throughout the African highlands.

Part one: Philippines...love, flavor, bananas, and war

The "La Ba" banana variety: "Big, aromatic, and deliciously sweet," according to the "Vegetables, Fruits, and Flowers of Vietnam" website.

The most delicious bananas in the world - arguably - come from the Philippines. One, the "La Ba" banana, is native to Lam Dong province, where it is grown across a scant 100 hectares (about 250 acres) of cultivated land. In a story that originally appeared in the Thanhniem News , farmers reported that selling La Ba (described as "treasured for their large size, beautiful shape, and excellent taste") could fetch as much as eight times more than other crops grown across similar expanses of land.

Part two: Philippines...love, flavor, bananas, and war

Read Part One

A plantation building burns in the Compostela Valley, Philippines. Photo from Fresh Plaza.

Meanwhile, in the Compostela Valley on the Philippine island of Mindanao - Cavendish is grown there - 150 uniformed, armed members of the New People's Army revolutionary group ransacked a pair of banana plantations, destroying hundreds of acres of fruit, and killing one plantation official.

Radio appearance on KPBS San Diego's "These Days"

Host Tom Fudge and I discussed "Banana" for fifteen minutes. He was a little skeptical that this humble fruit really did "change the world!" (He also said the subject matter seemed "powerfully mundane." I think - I hope - I convinced him. Listen here to find out.

An hour of live radio is tough!

..especially when the producers are so well prepared that they've taken all your favorite talking points. WBUR's On-Point radio show put together a really nice show with some really challenging questions, as well as some great audio clips, including a fantastic version of "Yes, We Have No Bananas" sung by Louis Prima. Also interviewed was Adolfo Martinez, director of the Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Investigation, the largest banana research facility in Central America. You can listen to the show, which aired on January 11, here. You can buy the Louis Prima version of the banana song at iTunes (and it is so worth the 99 cents!)

(The show also put together a nice web presentation of banana-related images.)

Vroman's Bookstore blog report on my reading there

On lovely Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena

Thanks, Vroman's, for hosting my reading on January 10 in Pasadena. Here's what the bookstore's blog had to say about the event.

"Last night I stuck around to hear Dan Koeppel read from his new book Bananas: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World. Food writing like this -- deeply focused and researched writing on a single subject, moving from the micro to the macro -- has really taken over the publishing world in the past few years. Mark Kurlanksy (Salt, Cod) has made a cottage industry of it, and Michael Pollan's fabulous The Omnivore's Dilemma (a book with a slightly broader scope) continues to appear on Vroman's bestseller list on a weekly basis."

Read more at Vroman's blog.

Two Fabulous Banana Products

There are a dozen major diseases that affect the banana - most virulent, many incurable (the rest often require enough pesticides to turn you into a lobster.) But how to you recognize these maladies? The American Phytopathological Society (APS) has the answer: a CD-ROM called "Diseases of Tropical Fruits, Citrus, and Sugarcane."

That's right - you'll not only get pictures of the stuff that ails bananas, but you'll also feast your eyes on over 550 photographs of angry fungi, bacteria, viruses, worms, and beetles, on the march against avocado, banana, coconut, grapefruit, lemon, lime, mandarine, mango, orange, papaya, and sugarcane. A bargain at $59.00.

If - for some insane reason - an electronic photo album of plant sicknesses isn't up your alley, the "Banana Bunker" from Cultured Containers might be nice: this is a curved, protective plastic container for your fruit. I've already reviewed one of these - the "Banana Guard" - and though I normally attempt to refrain from commentary that might discomfort, to quote Bob Chipeska, those with "tender sensibility," this has to be said: the thing looks like it belongs hidden under your bed (though I like the accordion center, which presumably stretches to fit any size fruit.) The inventor, Paul Stremple, points out that the product not only keeps your banana safe and unblemished, but also safeguards the contents of your backpack or briefcase from the banana. Price: $4.99.

If only Stremple's masterpiece could extend its protective shield to the sick bananas on the CD-ROM.

Order the CD-ROM. Order the banana protector, or, if you happen to be in New England, buy one - no foolin' - at the gift shop of the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art.

RADIO: Interviewed on KCRW's "Good Food"

The interview, with host Evan Kleiman, aired Saturday, January 5. Evan called the book "a fabulous read." Thanks, Evan!

The show's web page, with a listening link, is here. Directly download a podcast here.

Ten Questions about the book, answered at Borders online

From an interview I did back in December. Learn about slipping on banana peels, extinction, and fruity folklore here.

Boston Globe says Banana is "compelling," "fascinating," "disturbing."

A really good review by Ralph Ranalli in the Boston Globe, January 3:

"Thanks to Dan Koeppel, I'll never walk through the produce aisle the same way again.
Until I read his new book, "Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World," I had never really wondered why there were myriad varieties of apple - Royal Gala, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Macoun, McIntosh, etc. - yet just one monolithic, curved sweet yellow fruit labeled simply "bananas." (Plantains don't count; they're green and you have to cook them before you eat them.)

The reason, it turns out, is that the banana as we know it is a worldwide poster child for bio-nondiversity. Known as the Cavendish, the bananas sold in my local supermarket in Watertown are virtual genetic duplicates of the ones sold at my sister's greengrocer in Los Angeles and at food markets in Tokyo, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro. The Cavendish is grown everywhere from Central America to New Guinea to India to the Caribbean to Southeast Asia.

In "Banana," Koeppel, a longtime outdoors and adventure writer, weaves a multifaceted story about how the fruit's unique nature has allowed it to become a worldwide food staple and a geopolitical force that has both shaped and toppled nations."

(complete review after the jump, or read it directly at the Globe here.)

MEDIA MENTION: Quoted in the Lempert Report...

The sponsored blog comes from Phil Lempert, food trends editor for NBC's Today Show. I'm quoted as part of a general banana outlook for 2008. What's most interesting is that it is one of the first mainstream media reports that notes the potential effects banana disease might have on the U.S. grocery business (and, by extension, American shoppers.)

Read the story here.