The surprising history behind bananas

Did you know when you purchase a banana you are buying a relic of hegemonic empires? 

This humble fruit, born of an inedible seed, has been at the epicenter of exploitation for centuries. Cultivated for its delectable fruit, then exploited for its market power, the banana plant and its tumultuous history make for a wild tale much bigger than that peanut butter and banana sandwich you packed for lunch.

There are almost a thousand varieties of bananas in the world, but the most popular by far is the yellow banana commonly found in the grocery store, known as the Cavendish banana. So how did this tropical fruit end up with a distinctly British-sounding name? Simple: After William Cavendish, sixth Duke of Devonshire, received a shipment of the tropical fruit, he had his personal gardener cultivate this variety of banana in the greenhouse, and the rest is history. With over 150 countries producing bananas, they are one of the world’s most popular fruits.

A lot happened before that perfectly ripe yellow banana arrived at your local supermarket. Today, exploitation and disease continue to threaten the banana industry, but how exactly did the banana go from wild botanical berry to a staple in every kid’s lunchbox? 

We have the answers here:

• 1. Banana: Origins of the Popular Fruit

  

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  Bananas, which are considered botanical berries, are most likely native to Australia, but were first cultivated in Papua New Guinea. Journalist and food historian Dan Koeppel explains in his book, Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, that many scholars believe that bananas were actually Eve’s apple in the Garden of Eden.

• 2. Banana: Cultivation

  

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  The cultivation of bananas began centuries ago, but once countries realized the market power of this versatile fruit, people became greedy. Today, the monoculture production methods have destroyed ecosystems and left already-poor countries dependent on this single crop export.

• 3. Banana: The Rise of Banana Republics

  

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  When countries like the United States realized that the warmer climates of Central America could produce better-tasting fruit faster, big companies moved into nations like Honduras, trading roads and infrastructure for land. Cultivation of bananas quickly led to the rise of two dominant forces in the banana industry: Dole and United Fruit Company (i.e. Chiquita). These so-called banana republics, mostly in Central America, became entirely dependent on banana cultivation by the turn of the twentieth century.

• 4. Banana: Plantain vs. Banana

  

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  In reality, there is very little need to differentiate between these two fruits, because of the hundreds of varieties. However practically, plantains usually refer to the larger, greener, and less sweet banana species you see at the grocery store. In Latin cooking, plantains are used for tostones. The dark-skinned “dessert” plantains are used for maduros.

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From inedible food to excessive waste, shocking cooking show secrets revealed

A post on social media site Reddit asked people who have worked on the set of food shows to reveal the strangest things they’ve seen while working.

And the responses didn’t disappoint.

According to user ‘Elroypaisley’ who worked on a daytime talk show with daily cooking segments, most the hard work is done by a food stylist behind the scenes.

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Bobby Flay in the "Iron Chef America" kitchen. (AP File Photo)

“Most of the food is either A) not edible (under cooked chicken, just browned on the outside to look good for camera or sprayed with shining spray to make it look glossy) or B) Eaten by the crew,” wrote the redditor.

“The most enlightening fact, for me, was that many of the chefs have no idea what the recipe is, what they are cooking when they arrive, or how it’s made. A food stylist shows up two hours before taping, having been up the night before all night making the ‘beauty dishes’ — these are the dishes the camera will take shots of to show what the final product looks like. Then the stylist lays out every ingredient, every bowl, every tool that will be needed.

“The chef arrives, does hair/makeup and comes to set where the stylist briefs them. ‘Chef, today you’re making such and such. These are the ingredients for the reduction sauce, etc’. The chef goes over the recipe a few times, then we go live and they are the expert.”

User ‘Landlubber77’ worked as a production intern on a food network and said the dish prepared on screen by the chef isn’t usually the one featured in the fancy photos.

“When they want to stage shots of just the food on its own, the ‘hero shot’, they have an intern make a duplicate of the meal (doesn’t matter if it’s undercooked inside because nobody is gonna eat it) which just has to look good on the surface. They then spray it with an aerosol can of some ungodly preservative to make it ‘stay.’

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Food stylists can spend hours prepping dishes that aren't even meant to be eaten. (iStock)

“You could come back a year later and it would still be camera ready.”

When it comes to shows such asMasterChef, ‘absinthevisions’ wrote that “each dish can be made several times so there is a lot of waste”.

“If it’s a contest style show, the judges don’t eat the version that you see cooked and plated. That version is thrown away and a new version is cooked specifically for them to eat. Then they take 2-3 bites from a plate and throw the rest away.”

If you’ve ever seen a cooking show where the chef is given a special ingredient at the start of the show and you’ve been amazed by how quickly they brainstormed and executed their dish, well ... don’t be amazed.

“My brother was a sous chef for his (at the time) boss on a popular food competition show,” wrote Reddit user ‘LadyofRivendell’.

“He said the secret ingredient was revealed a few hours prior to filming and the chefs sat down with their sous chefs and made plans ahead.”

But the best story in the thread was from a caterer called ‘Astrochef12’ who was hired in the early 2000s by The Oprah Winfrey Show to help make a number of different celebrities’ favorite recipes for the studio audience.

“I made pancakes (I think) for Harry Connick Jr, Gwenyth Paltrow’s Miso crusted-Cod and most famously Tom Cruise’s Grandmother’s spaghetti carbonara,” they wrote.

“Usually I would be the one to go to the show with a few cooks; warm everything up and plate some 360 tasting sized portions for the audience. The food would be served during a commercial break in two and a half minutes, so the pressure was pretty intense.

“Tom Cruise’s spaghetti carbonara sticks in my memories because the call came in during a lull and a bunch of staff was on vacation. We would get the call and have to have the food ready for taping that same week, so it was just me on the job.

“They requested enough spaghetti carbonara for 360 guests, plus the Mise en Place (prepped ingredients) for Tom to demo it himself on camera. They also sent the recipe, which had been dictated by an assistant and emailed.

“When I read the recipe I went into apoplexy as his recipe was flawed ... He had stated that the beaten eggs be poured into the sauteed olive oil/bacon/anchovies then stirred into the pasta (which would result in scrambled eggs). Normally the eggs are mixed in after the pasta is added, then you toss everything around and the eggs, cheese, olive oil and bacon fat make a very rich sauce.

“So I am faced with a dilemma. Do I make the recipe his way so that the audience gets the same messed up preparation or do I make it the right way and show up the biggest star ever on a major client’s very popular show?

“The populist in me won. Screw Tom Cruise.

“I packed everything up and sent it off to the show with another event chef. The chef calls me as soon as they were done: Sure enough, they roll out the demo setup and he (Tom Cruise) starts sauteing the olive oil, garlic, anchovies and bacon til everything melts down. He adds the eggs and ... scrambled eggs! He’s like ‘Uh oh! That’s not right?’ and Oprah reaches under the cart and pulls out a bowl of my spaghetti carbonara and he says, ‘Oh yeah, that’s what it is supposed to look like!’

“I’m jumping up and down and screaming and yelling, fist pumping.”

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Kitchen items you should never put in the dishwasher

The beauty of a dishwasher is that you can just toss everything in it after dinner, let it run, and sit back and relax, right? Unfortunately, that's not exactly the case. The rough cycle that gets your plates and bowls sparkling clean can do some kitchen equipment more harm than good, potentially ruining them.

Keep these items out of dishwasher and hand wash them instead:

• 1. Wooden (and bamboo) everything

  

  
  

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  Keep those cutting boards, spoons, and big salad bowls out of the dishwasher—the hot, wet environment of a cycle can be extremely damaging.
  "Prolonged exposure to water (especially hot water) can make wood and bamboo warp or crack. It'll also strip off its protective layer of oil and open up the grain so that it not only looks less lovely, it feels rough to the touch," says our Associate Food Editor Anna Stockwell.

• 2. Cast Iron

  

  
  

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  Washing your skillet in the dishwasher can not only cause it to rust, it will also remove it's precious seasoning that prevents food from sticking.

• 3. Good cutting knives

  

  
  

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  It's fine to throw your butter knives in there, but keep that chef's knife or any other good quality knives out of the silverware basket. The dishwasher can dull those knives faster than hand washing can.

• 4. Anything insulated

  

  
  

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  Want that travel mug to keep your coffee hot? Wash it by hand. The vacuum seal between the inner and outer shell can break and the space can even fill with water when it's is washed in the dishwasher.

• 5. Aluminum

  

  
  

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  You may think you're being clever by throwing the aluminum tray you used to bake a potluck lasagna in right in the dishwasher to clean it and reuse it, but unfortunately you're not. Since the containers are lightweight, they can bump around in the machine and leave black marks on the other items in there. The same goes for any aluminum cookware you may own.

• 6. Copper

  

  
  

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  If you own anything made of copper, strictly hand wash it—dishwasher detergent is more powerful than regular dish soap and can discolor it.

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