Our feelings are far too paradoxical when it comes to bananas.
We think bananas are an important food item; at the same time,
we enjoy banana jokes. Someone falling over on a banana skin and
getting up is slapstick hilarious. We say someone has gone
bananas when he doesn't make sense. Joke books and websites teem
with banana jokes. For instance:
Observe bananas. They are traffic lights reversed. For
bananas green is, "Be patient and wait." Yellow is the right of
way. Red is, "Beware, this banana is an alien."
Most banana jokes, however, are not G-rated.
The odd thing is, we also take bananas very seriously, even
while we joke about them. Someone as formal as Mr. Greenspan
warned the bankers, on September 26, 2005, by saying,
"Don't
slip on the banana." This was while he mentioned Adam Smith
and the free markets.
In computing and website terminology, "banana problem" is the
term about badly written and inaccurate conditions or an
uncertain situation related to the termination of a program.
During the last decade of the 20th century, bananas were taken
so solemnly that Europe versus United States and Banana
Republics trade wars cropped up. "Banana Republics" are the
banana raising countries in Central America.
Europeans called the banana "Indian Fig" during the fifteenth
century and the first shipment of bananas to the United States
during the colonial period was at the end of the seventeenth
century. Not knowing what to do with a banana, the colonists
experimented cooking it with all kinds of meat.
In Hawaii, about a couple of centuries ago, bananas were
forbidden to women. If a woman ate a banana, she could be
sentenced to death.
There are Banana Islands off the western coast of Africa,
because--contrary to the belief that banana cultivation only
belongs to tropical and subtropical countries in America--most
of the world's banana crops are raised in Africa.
Bananas come in many colors. "The Ice-Cream Banana" is blue, but
turns yellow when it ripens. Maroon or purple bananas are called
"Red Bananas" and the flesh inside their skin is pink.
A banana plant is not a tree, although we call it that. It is a
monster herb with huge, elongated, flat leaves and orange or
purple colored flowers. Inside the trunk of a banana plant is a
white tube that is edible when cooked.
We place bananas all around us as entertainment, even in songs.
Remember the calypso "Banana Boat Song" and Woody Allen's movie,
"Bananas"?
In our house, we buy so many bananas and so often that our
grocer probably thinks we are hiding monkeys as pets. An almost
daily statement in our kitchen is:
"No breakfast (or lunch)
for me. I'm in a hurry. I'll just grab a banana."
A banana finds its true sweet flavor when it ripens and the skin
turns brownish. Aside from eating the banana as fruit, we make
deserts from it such as banana splits, banana pudding, and
banana bread.
What we call banana bread is not bread but a not-too-sweet cake,
best when served with the afternoon tea. Here is what I put
inside my banana bread:
about two and a half cups of flour (whole wheat and
unbleached white mixed)
a pinch of salt
baking powder
2 eggs or their equivalent of Egg-Beaters
about ¾ cup of light brown sugar
less than half a cup of corn oil (butter would taste better if
you aren't worried about cholesterol)
three or four mashed bananas, when the fruit is brownish on the
outside and softened inside the peel
chopped walnuts, coconuts, or almonds added as variety to taste
Enjoy your bananas. They play an important part in our lives.
About the author:
Joy Cagil is an author on
http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a
site for
Creative Writing.
Her education is in foreign languages and linguistics. She loves
food even though her culinary skills are self-taught. Her
portfolio can be found at
