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To most people, a banana is a banana: a simple yellow fruit. Americans eat more bananas than apples and oranges combined. In others parts of the world, bananas are what keep millions of people alive. But for all its ubiquity, the banana is surprisingly mysterious; nobody knows how bananas evolved or exactly where they originated. Rich cultural lore surrounds the fruit: in ancient translations of the Bible, the "apple" consumed by Eve is actually a banana. But the biggest mystery about the banana today is whether it will survive. A seedless fruit with a unique reproductive system, every banana is a genetic duplicate of the next, and therefore susceptible to the same blights. Today's yellow banana, the Cavendish, is increasingly threatened by such a blight, and there's no cure in sight. Banana combines a pop-science journey around the globe, a fascinating tale of an iconic American business enterprise, and a look into the alternately tragic and hilarious banana subculture (one does exist)-ultimately taking us to the high-tech labs where new bananas are literally being built in test tubes, in a race to save the world's most beloved fruit.… (more)
User reviews
There are three pieces to the banana...the history of humanity's first cultivated plant (modern evidence from New Guinea shows human cultivation from 9000 years ago was of bananas, but for their corms not the fingers we eat today); the politics of the modern cultivation of the banana (the term "banana republic", which I have used without thinking for 30+ years, has a very literal beginning and a scarily modern ring); and the future of humankind's most basic and widely distributed food crop (essential to survival in several parts of the world, the banana is also under threat from several pests that defy modern chemistry to abate, still less conquer, and squeamish food-o-phobes in wealthy countries oppose all modern genetic engineering that could save the survival crop of many parts of the world). These three strands are awkwardly interwoven, with no obvious guiding editorial hand to make sense of their interrelation.
It's a shame, too, because this is a huge, important topic, and the author's not inconsiderable talents are well-used in bringing the facts to light. The loss of our American favorite banana, the Cavendish, from grocery shelves will be an inconvenience at most; the fact that two major American corporations are, double-handedly (is that a word?), responsible for the spread of the blights that threaten the world crop with the complicity of the American government, should mean that we as a country are liable to find solutions to the pressing problems of food security in the places we've so screwed over. Free. But that won't happen, you can bet on that.
Back to the book...too much narrative drive is lost in the author's back-and-forth cross-cutting of the basic story. I wish someone had said, "Yo Dan...first third of the book is the banana as a plant; second third is the politics of the banana; last is the science of the plant." I wonder if that was what they tried, and the interconnections of all the information prevented its success? I somehow don't think so.
It's a good-enough book on an important topic that SHOULD cause each person who reads it some discomfort at our societal callousness and myopia. I recommend it to those most likely to be irritated by progressive politics and social liberalism. Isolationists particularly encouraged to apply!
It's a quick read, and leaves you wishing your friends would pick it up too, so they don't look at you crossly for wanting to discuss the ravages of Panama disease or black sigatoka.
The author tried to infuse this work with an overarching drama, which is "a banana blight that is tearing through banana crops worldwide". This is a fact, however there seem to be some solutions in place, and at least several alternatives. In any case, some chapters end with sentences like "this is why the banana you eat today might be the last of its kind you eat. Ever!". Hilarious! But please, go on! Bring us another one of whatever this guy is drinking!!
Koeppel spent many chapters on the history of United Fruit, the modern Chiquita. I knew it was a history of violent colonialism, but I didn't know to what extent. The history of the "banana republics" of Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, etc. is fascinating, dark and disturbing. Guatemala in particular, with the CIA-orchestrated conspiracy / coup that was very much related to United Fruit and bananas.
One minor flaw: the focus seems to be almost entirely on American bananas and their history, only a little bit on South-East Asia, and almost nothing on Africa. The book would have been more complete if it expanded a bit more on Africa and what the fruit meant for African history, too.
In the end, the author recommends us to buy fair trade bananas, to help plantation workers, and he gives us a bit more background, without pushing that agenda too much.
Dan Koeppel has researched his subject well, and written an accessible and never boring book. Bananas
I really recommend this fascinating look at something we very much take for granted.
what i don't like is that it's really meant for the general public so it seems to have the
you'll learn a lot about banana diseases and the evil fingers of banana companies in latin america particularly and in the rest of the world.
one interesting debate goes around genetically modified foods. it appears it's not that bad on bananas because the plants are sterile; they depend on human intervention to reproduce, there is no pollen or seeds, so issues around GMOed plants hybridizing other plants are not there.
The author tried to infuse this work with an overarching drama, which is "a banana blight that is tearing through banana crops worldwide". This is a fact, however there seem to be some solutions in place, and at least several alternatives. In any case, some chapters end with sentences like "this is why the banana you eat today might be the last of its kind you eat. Ever!". Hilarious! But please, go on! Bring us another one of whatever this guy is drinking!!
Koeppel spent many chapters on the history of United Fruit, the modern Chiquita. I knew it was a history of violent colonialism, but I didn't know to what extent. The history of the "banana republics" of Honduras, Guatemala, Panama, etc. is fascinating, dark and disturbing. Guatemala in particular, with the CIA-orchestrated conspiracy / coup that was very much related to United Fruit and bananas.
One minor flaw: the focus seems to be almost entirely on American bananas and their history, only a little bit on South-East Asia, and almost nothing on Africa. The book would have been more complete if it expanded a bit more on Africa and what the fruit meant for African history, too.
In the end, the author recommends us to buy fair trade bananas, to help plantation workers, and he gives us a bit more background, without pushing that agenda too much.
I had completed my doctoral thesis on Guatemala, a country considered to be one of the Central American Banana Republics, and
I also had a less moral, more personal reason for picking up the book. My Grandson adores the fruit. He is a very picky eater though he will eat almost any fruit you put in front of him. Bananas are his favorite fruit and, at only 1.5 years old, will easily eat three bananas for breakfast unless we intervene to fight an egg or cereal into his mouth. Bananas were actually a prominent theme of our recent Hawaiian vacation. Our family visited the Dole plantation and pointed out the banana trees much to his delight. At another plantation we ate a delicious banana-apple variety that he found absolutely scrumptious. We even tried to buy a bunch still on the stalk so Grandson could pick them himself (we never located one). Finding Banana filled in the gaps between plantation and state-side supermarket. It was interesting for me to learn how bananas are grown and how fighting plant infections are extremely difficult. I am now my Grandson's personal banana expert.
Don't expect a great, personal revelation or resolution about the apparent conflict between Banana Republics and my Grandson's tummy. I don't have one. I am certain my Grandson would be fine enjoying local produce if bananas disappeared from our groceries. But, it is hard not to buy them when he reaches for them from his perch in the shopping cart. At the moment, I hope as consumers we can insist our businesses act more morally and ethically even while I understand with that hope I am slipping on a proverbial banana peel. With that hope I am essentially passing the buck directly into the pockets of Chiquita and Dole.
This may sound boring, but the book is written in a very accessible style and actually very interesting. Ever since I read this book I won't pick up a banana in my supermarket without a great amount of wonder. About how mysterious it actually is: a fruit without seeds. And more than that: how such a delicate tropical fruit ended up here at all.
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634.772 |