Banana

I recently finished a book called: Banana - The fate of the fruit that changed the world written by Dan Koeppel. It may seem like a book about bananas may be a bit borning. Let me assure you that it wasn't. This book was actually a quick and fascinating read, especially considering that I have never eaten a banana.

A FEW BANANA FACTOIDS:

1. American's eat more bananas than oranges and apples combined.
2. All bananas sold in the United States are clones of each other. This is proving to be problematic as a fungus is wipping out the banana we eat - i.e. if one banana gets sick, all bananas get sick. Some experts think that this species of banana may be extinct in as little as 2 decades.
3. The species of banana that we eat is one of the poorest bananas nutritionally and taste wise (just ask anyone who as been to an area where the fruit can be grown and sold locally).
4. The banana companies have had more influence on governments (both home and abroad) than I would even care to think. It just blows my mind that they have been responsible for the rise and fall of entire countries.

At the end of the book I came to this conclusion; bananas are evil. That may sound a bit harsh since most of you probably eat this fruit on a daily basis but this book really opened my eyes to the politics behind bananas. I won't bore you with the details now. If you are interested, go check out this book. I think it is worth a look!