Banana: A Global History

Description

Sweet but starchy, soft but toothsome—and so easy to peel they just beg to be devoured—bananas are one of our favorite foods, found everywhere from gas station counters to Michelin star restaurants. Yet for as versatile and ubiquitous as this fruit is today, its history is a turbulent one, entangled in colonial domination, capitalist exploitation, sexual politics, and even horrific violence. Delving into the banana’s past, this book traces the complex circumstances of global modernity that perfectly aligned to grant us, often at tremendous costs, a treat we all now take for granted.               Beginning with the banana’s origins in New Guinea, Lorna Piatti-Farnell follows its pathways to South East Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas, binding together a millennium of history into one digestible bunch. Focusing especially on the banana’s recent past, she shows how it rose from a regional staple to a global commodity, on par with coffee and sugar. She examines the ways it has been advertised, sold, and incorporated into popular culture, moving from nineteenth-century medical manuals to cookbooks, songs, slapstick comedy, and problematic figures like Miss Chiquita. Wide-ranging but pocket-sized, Banana is a culinary and cultural account of a peculiar little fruit that is at once the icon of exoticism and one of the most familiar foods we eat.  Cover......Page 1 Banana: A Global History......Page 5 Imprint Page......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Introducing the Banana Family......Page 9 1. Growing Bananas: Histories, Legends and Myths......Page 32 2. How to Eat Bananas......Page 58 3. The Banana Trade......Page 80 4. Imaginary Bananas......Page 105 Epilogue......Page 140 Recipes......Page 143 References......Page 153 Select Bibliography......Page 161 Websites and Associations......Page 165 Acknowledgements......Page 167 Photo Acknowledgements......Page 169 Index......Page 171