This article isn’t about making banana splits or Bananas In Pajamas, but it is about the convoluted history of bananas.
Still from Everything Princess Nokia Eats in a Day | Food Diaries: Bite Size | Harper’s BAZAAR (Harper's Bazaar, 2020). Watch the video, it is rather wholesome.
Still from Everything Princess Nokia Eats in a Day | Food Diaries: Bite Size | Harper’s BAZAAR (Harper’s BAZAAR, 2020) In Image: Oxtail, rice and peas, and fried plantain.
Dear Patient Reader,
This article isn’t about making banana splits or Bananas In Pajamas, but it is about the convoluted history of bananas.
Originating from the hot, tropical climate of Southern Asia in around 8000 to 5000 B.C.E. (Make Fruit Fair, 2015). The banana was one of the first fruit to be actively cultivated by humans at the dawn of agriculture. Historians believe that Alexander the Great and his armies found bananas growing in the Indus River Valley in about 326 B.C.E. (Lancashire, 2013) as they marched through India in an attempt to reach the sea. But let’s fast forward to a time closer to ours.
In 1901 (Lancanshire, 2013), Jamaica was the first country in the Western Hemisphere to produce bananas commercially (Jamaicans.com, 2019). The germplasm (gene bank) of the Bodles Breeding Research Banana Station, Jamaica has over 150 varieties (The Banana Board Jamaica, 2018). These are genes that may not have commercial value but qualities that decrease disease susceptibility and/or increase desirable marketability. Unlike traditional varieties, “commercial varieties, have a narrow genetic pool and are highly vulnerable to pests and diseases” (UN News, 2006). For example, several cultivar varieties are resistant to Black sigatoka; a fungal foliar disease that attacks banana plants. A cultivar is a plant variety that has been produced in cultivation by selective breeding (definition from Oxford Languages), and are usually designated in the style Taxus baccata ‘variegata’.
Bananas are mentioned twice in the Qur’an as one of the fruits of Paradise. Which comes from the Arabic word ‘banan’ (بنان), meaning ‘finger’ (Mohammad, 2020). Banana cultivars and their hybridization in breeding programmes are the source of valuable gene sources. These form the global, genetic base of bananas.
The “banana wars”
In political science, a banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon a single export controlled by foreign capital. That is “an economy of state capitalism, whereby the country is operated as a private commercial enterprise for the exclusive profit of the ruling class” (Wikipedia, 2021). “Popularized in 1983 by writer, Lester D. Langley, the term “banana wars” encompassed the United States tropical empire that had taken over the Western Hemisphere. “Banana wars” portrayed the United States as a police force that was sent to reconcile “warring tropical countries, lawless societies and corrupt politicians, establishing a reign over tropical trade.” (Wikipedia, 2021)
As a staple part of their diet, plantains are used in cuisine across the Caribbean. Not only grown commercially, plantains and bananas form part of subsistence farming. The Minions shout-chanting “Respect! Power! Banana!” well represents the commercialization and capitalism of the cultivation and distribution of bananas. So, the next time you peel a banana, think that you’re unpeeling its history.
Bibliography
Jamaicans.com. (2019). Did you know Jamaica was the first country in the Western Hemisphere to produce bananas commercially? Retrieved from Jamaicans.com: https://jamaicans.com/did-you-know-jamaica-was-the-first-country-in-the-western-hemisphere-to-produce-bananas-commercially/
Lancashire, R. J. (2013). Jamaican bananas and plantains. Retrieved from The Department of Chemistry: http://wwwchem.uwimona.edu.jm/lectures/banana.html
Make Fruit Fair. (2015). Where do bananas come from? Retrieved from Make Fruit Fair: http://makefruitfair.org/where-do-bananas-come-from/#:~:text=The%20name%20banana%20originates%20from,fruit%20of%20the%20wise%20men%E2%80%9D.
Mohammad, K. (2020). What is the etymology of Arabic word "mauz" meaning "banana"? Retrieved from Quora: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-etymology-of-Arabic-word-mauz-meaning-banana
The Banana Board Jamaica. (2018). Maintenance of the Banana and Plantain Germplasm (gene bank) Collection at Bodles Banana Breeding Station. Retrieved from The Banana Board Jamaica: https://www.thebananaboardja.org/index.php/services/varieties
UN News. (2006, May 3). Banana, spread from India by Alexander the Great, threatened on home turf – UN. Retrieved from UN News: https://news.un.org/en/story/2006/05/177262-banana-spread-india-alexander-great-threatened-home-turf-un
Wikipedia. (2021). Banana republic. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic
Wikipedia. (2021). Banana Wars. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars
Stills from,
Everything Princess Nokia Eats in a Day | Food Diaries: Bite Size | Harper’s BAZAAR (Harper's Bazaar, 2020). Watch the video, it is rather wholesome.
Everything Princess Nokia Eats in a Day | Food Diaries: Bite Size | Harper’s BAZAAR (Harper’s BAZAAR, 2020)
Comments