Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World: The most expensive bananas in America?

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

The most expensive bananas in America?

A buck a pound - or more - for bananas?

Just spent a weekend with my girlfriend visiting the action-packed and gorgeous little town of McCall, Idaho - about two hours north of Boise. We did some amazing backcountry and nordic skiing - helped by a late-season dump that put almost a foot of fresh powder on the slopes (yes, the life of a struggling author. It kills!) - and generally had a good time checking out the coffee shops and restaurants in the lakeside village (population: 2,500, but getting trendy, according to the New York Times.)

But when we went in search of lunch, we stopped in at a small gourmet shop - the nice City Market & Wine, right on State Highway 55 - and I saw something I'd never, ever encountered: bananas for over a buck a pound (in fact, the price was $1.11.) The clerk explained that these organics - the country of origin wasn't noted, but I could tell from the stickers that they were from Mexico - had been going up for months (see my previous entry on banana prices, here), and had just broken the 99 cent barrier a week earlier.

Yes, McCall's an isolated resort town, and this was a gourmet market, so prices are going to be high. But for me, this is more shocking than gas at four bucks a gallon.

Posted on April 07, 2008 in Banana News | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/708300/27758922

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The most expensive bananas in America?:

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

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