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 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. |
