Go Bananas! 
We’ve all held them up to our ears, pretending they were phones, our mouths , pretending they were smiles, and most of us have had the misfortune of a lunchbox, thermos, banana interaction. But how did this tasty, tropical, sickle-shaped fruit come to the US?
“Bananas used to taste better.” An older man in the know once told me. “They pick them too green with mass marketing, and it robs them of their flavor .”
It’s generally agreed among octogenarians and older folks that bananas used to taste better. In reality, it’s only in part because they are picked too early.
Bananas came to the US in the early 1800s. Bunches of the yellow cargo were gold to merchants. Upon landing, they got wrapped in foil and sold as novelties by stores and street vendors for a dime.
So many went bananas for these new tasty treats that the streets became slick with peels– which prompted the banana peel gags of the Chaplin era. An interprisising man decided he could make steady bucks by pushing Panamanian plantations into producing huge quantities of the Gros Michael banana variety.
His company had a good run, until the Fusarium wilt– the Panama banana disease struck in the 50s. They had to scramble for a replacement. A suitable, though less tasty, replacement, the Cavendish, has been going into banana bread and smoothies for over half a century, now.
According to the banana bunch, the average American eats about 130 bananas per year.
With the Cavendish fighting disease, we have reached crisis mode again. Opinions are divided as to whether a new bunch should land on our counters, or we should diversify and take advantage of the two dozen varieties available.
Though I enjoy these vitamin and antioxidant rich packages of goodness, I prefer red bananas, lady fingers, or any number of others. Our next generation is looking in the plantain, fried banana direction. How about you?
This has been your Tuesday Historical Trivia Tidbit on island time.