1 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to food Stuff. I'm Anny Rees and 2 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren fog Obam and you guys, we need we 3 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: need to talk about bananas. We really do. If you 4 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,040 Speaker 1: ever needed an example of politics and how it's involved 5 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: in your food, this is it. It's this. This one's 6 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 1: really upsetting. I'm really upset about it. I'm not sure 7 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: if I'm ever going to eat bananas again. I'm like, 8 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: not exaggerate, but don't click away, don't. Yeah no, I 9 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: mean it's delightful. I mean it's wonderful. It's good to 10 00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: be educated. It is. And a quick note right at 11 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: the top, Yeah, we are not talking about plantains. They 12 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: are members of the banana family, but they are different 13 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:47,520 Speaker 1: and worthy of their own episodes. Oh absolutely, yes, So 14 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: let's let's embark on this journey. Yeah yeah, no, there's 15 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: there's also some really fun information there is so bananas, 16 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: what aren't they Well? According to Dan Copple, who is 17 00:00:57,360 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: the author of Banana, The Fate of the Fruit That 18 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,400 Speaker 1: Changed the World, very helpful in this research, the banana 19 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: is quote one of the most intriguing organisms on Earth. 20 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: First of all, it's parent plant is an herb, but 21 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: the banana itself is a berry. Botanically speaking, when we 22 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: say that something is a is a botanical berry, we 23 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: mean that it's a fruit that does not have a 24 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: stone in it, that is made from a single flower. 25 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,320 Speaker 1: The plants, the banana plants, aren't trees, although they're sometimes 26 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 1: called trees, they're they're basically huge tubes of leaf stalks. 27 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: New leaves sprout up out from the center, and as 28 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: they get larger, the leaves and start to flatten out 29 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: and droop the old ones, forming that the trunk kind 30 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:44,479 Speaker 1: of wither and fall. The banana plant generally grows about 31 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: three meters or ten feet tall, and it doesn't have 32 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: a season for blooming the way that like apples do. 33 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: They can flower any time of year. The flowers don't 34 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: need to be fertilized. They are sterile. Yes. Over the 35 00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: course of about nine months, they'll grow into a bunch 36 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: or hand of up to a hundred seventy bananas. Yeah 37 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: quite a lot. Yeah, but they'll only do it once, 38 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: only one time, one time, and that's it. After that, 39 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: you have to grow a new plant if you want 40 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 1: more bananas. And for this reason, the banana plant is 41 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: a symbol in Buddhism. Of the ultimate uselessness of earthly things, 42 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: or at least that's that's what I read in a 43 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,000 Speaker 1: History of Food by Magolon to St. Sumat, who I 44 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: do not think is a Buddhist, and I had trouble 45 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: confirming it with more direct sources. But it's a nice story. 46 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: I guess it reminds me of the sport, the poetry 47 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: about the sport, and the ultimate uselessness of Huh, lots 48 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: of useless foods and objects we talked about on the show. Apparently, Yeah, 49 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: that's keep listening, everybody. Um, Bananas do not have working seeds. 50 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,360 Speaker 1: You get a new banana plant by making a cutting 51 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: of a shoote and and planting that cutting. Bunches are 52 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: harvested by hand or generally by machete. More specifically, they're 53 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: shipped green and very carefully kept at temp chures and 54 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,360 Speaker 1: humidities meant to prevent ripening until they are ready, like 55 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: ready to go to the market. Um. The ripening process 56 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:11,240 Speaker 1: is then triggered by a bath of ethylene gas, which 57 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 1: is this compound produced by fruits as they ripen, and 58 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: can also trigger unripe fruits to start ripening, like avocado. 59 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:23,400 Speaker 1: Like avocado, Uh huh, um and the temperature then is 60 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: also increased to about sixty to sixty two degrees fahrenheit 61 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: very precise, that's a fifteen point six to sixteen point 62 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: seven degrees celsius. This allows the fruit to begin to 63 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: yellow just as it hits store shelves. Perfect. Yes, I 64 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: love the specificity. I know. Bananas, by the way, are 65 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: the most popular fruit in the world and they account 66 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: for sevent of all tropical fruit trade. Yeah, but they 67 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 1: are also a staple food in many places that grow 68 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: them are actually grown to be consumed domestically. Yeah, which 69 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: is one of the most surprising things to me. Um. 70 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:07,720 Speaker 1: And even though there are nearly a thousand types of bananas, 71 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: of bananas sold in the US are the yellow Cavendish banana, 72 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: and they account for over half of the bananas grown 73 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:20,840 Speaker 1: around the world. And apparently it's kind of seen as 74 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 1: a lesser banana where bananas are more common more commonly 75 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 1: grown in India, it's looked down upon as the hotel banana. 76 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: Yeah for those fancy people. Yeah. Uh. In terms of nutrition, 77 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: bananas are a very calorie dense food because they are 78 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: so sugary, about fourteen fourteen grams of sugar a piece, 79 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: which is more than a quarter of a can of coke. Yeah. Um, 80 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: a uk Zoo banned them a few years back from 81 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: their Primates diets for fear of chunky monkeys. Lauren, that 82 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: was excellent. I'm sorry and or you're welcome, thank you. 83 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: And unharvested banana is about one percent fruit toose, but 84 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:05,640 Speaker 1: by the time it gets to the grocery shells and 85 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: the searches convert to sugars, it's about eight percent. Yeah, 86 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,360 Speaker 1: not too long after that our old pal fermentation kicks in. 87 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: In some African countries, this means banana wine or banana beer. 88 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: Bananas are also, however, high in potassium, invited and c 89 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: and contain good stuff like fiber and electro lights and antioxidants. 90 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: And I think we've talked about this before, either in 91 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 1: person or on the show. I can't remember, but diet 92 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:37,279 Speaker 1: and exercise enthusiasts are so divided about bananas. Um. You know. 93 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 1: I if you're watching your sugar, a'd say to probably 94 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:41,040 Speaker 1: avoid them, But otherwise they're a good way to quell 95 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,160 Speaker 1: a craving for something sweet without turning to less healthy 96 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:49,159 Speaker 1: processed snacks. Yes, and here's an important question, Lauren, are 97 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: you peeling your bananas rolling? Probably what Yeah, as the 98 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,039 Speaker 1: Internet was eager to tell us a couple of years back, 99 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,599 Speaker 1: it is much easier to peel a banana from the 100 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: side that doesn't have the stem on it, which is 101 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: how I've always done it, because really, oh no, no, no, 102 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:07,919 Speaker 1: that the stems are Oh yeah, I don't know if 103 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: you if you hold up the other end, the nubby end, 104 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: and kind of pinch that nub between your thumb and 105 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: four finger, it'll just come away and simultaneously split the 106 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: banana's skin into sections. Oh so it's easy, and plus 107 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 1: at that point you can use the stem as a handle. 108 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:29,480 Speaker 1: That's handy. Oh oh, I didn't even mean to. Apart 109 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,440 Speaker 1: from being eaten as is in school lunches or at 110 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:35,920 Speaker 1: the end of races, bananas are used for all kinds 111 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:38,799 Speaker 1: of things. Banana bread, bana putting, banana's, faster's, banas split 112 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,239 Speaker 1: and ice cream, banana pancakes. Man, I had this banana 113 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: curry in India that was so good, and I would 114 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,039 Speaker 1: have never thought to have put banana and curry, but 115 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:50,160 Speaker 1: oh no, I believe you. I want that now. Immigrants 116 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:54,920 Speaker 1: riving to Ellis Island were once handed bananas. I know. 117 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: According to PBS, you can use a banana peel to 118 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,600 Speaker 1: help loosen a splinter, get rid of ink stains, mitigate 119 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:07,599 Speaker 1: insect bites, or stop a scratched disc from skipping. Celebrities 120 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: like Jay Leno and Ronald Reagan used to be members 121 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: of the International Banana Club, which have thirty eight thousands 122 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: do paying members from twenty seven country And when you joined, 123 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: you got the option to pick a banana themed nickname. 124 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,240 Speaker 1: I want to know so much more, but there's no 125 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: time the whole other episode. Clearly, there's also a cryptocurrency, 126 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: you know, like bitcoin, the value of which is tied 127 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: to the value of a kilogram of bananas on the 128 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:40,240 Speaker 1: international market. Of course there is. It's called banana coin. 129 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: How have I not heard banana coin? Well, okay, so 130 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: let's talk about currency economics. Um, banana's pack is serious punch. 131 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: Daniel Stone at National Geographic put it this way. If 132 00:07:56,160 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: fruits were pop stars, the banana would be Beyonce. They 133 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: are the fourth most monetarily valuable food in the world, 134 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: behind only wheat, rice and milk. Yeah. Shaqda, a company 135 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: name I'm guessing you recognize, is the largest producer of 136 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: bananas as often. The export of bananas made eight point 137 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:21,280 Speaker 1: nine billion in commercial sales and u S dollars. If 138 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:25,120 Speaker 1: you include non exports and plantains, that numbers forty four 139 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: point one billion dollars the largest. The two largest growers 140 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: of bananas, China and India, making up thirty five percent 141 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: of banana and plantain yields, don't export hardly any at all, 142 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: but consume them within their own borders. Ecuador is the 143 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: largest exporter of bananas, and seventeen million tons, most of 144 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,679 Speaker 1: which are cavendish, are exported globally every year. They are 145 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:52,680 Speaker 1: the single most purchased item at American walmarts. That is 146 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:57,280 Speaker 1: stunning to me. I guess, I don't know what else? Bread? 147 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:02,319 Speaker 1: I don't, I don't bread or milk? Yeah. Oh. One 148 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: place that you will not find bananas is on crab boats. 149 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: There is such a wide anti banana superstition that some 150 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 1: crabbing crews even prohibit banana boat sunscreen and Banana Republic clothing. 151 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 1: No one is entirely sure how this got started, Okay. 152 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development reports that 153 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: four million people depend on bananas as their primary caloric provider. 154 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: In some African countries, people eat an average of five 155 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: hundred pounds of bananas a year near like Victoria. The 156 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:41,200 Speaker 1: Swahili word for food might also translate to banana. They 157 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,079 Speaker 1: are one of the most important crops for about ten countries. 158 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 1: A lot of people depend on the banana for their 159 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,840 Speaker 1: livelihood or as a food source that keeps them alive. 160 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: That's what makes this next part so so extra scary. Yeah, 161 00:09:55,080 --> 00:10:00,439 Speaker 1: so we we need to talk about the upcoming banana apocalypse. Yeah, 162 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: we really do. You've probably seen not so great headlines 163 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:07,560 Speaker 1: like these banana apocalypse the race to save the world's 164 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 1: most popular fruit from the Washington Post CNNs. Why bananas 165 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: as we know them right now going extinct again? Um? 166 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: Has the end of the banana arrived from popular science? 167 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 1: And what they're referring to is a fungus called Fusarium 168 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,559 Speaker 1: wilt a k a. The Panama disease. And this stuff 169 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: is no joke. It attacks the roots of banana plants 170 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: and the spores can survive for decades in the ground, 171 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 1: meaning it can stick to boots or anything else that 172 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: comes in contact with infected soil and easily spread that way. 173 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: The incubation period is two to three years too, so 174 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:45,720 Speaker 1: you might not even know you've got a problem until 175 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:49,080 Speaker 1: it's too late. The first strain, Race one, as it 176 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,439 Speaker 1: was called, pretty much wiped out the grown Michelle a k. 177 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 1: A big mic type of banana, which until nive was 178 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: the most exported type of banana. There was even a 179 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:02,079 Speaker 1: song of about this called yes we have no Bananas. 180 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: It's very up beat um penned in nineteen three. The 181 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,920 Speaker 1: less flavorful, I guess I've never tried one. Uh no, 182 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: I have tried a Cavendish. I have never tried to 183 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:16,160 Speaker 1: grow Michelle. The Cavendish is said to be less flavorful 184 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,680 Speaker 1: than big Mike grow Michelle due to its resistance to 185 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:25,679 Speaker 1: raise one. It's not less flavorful because well, we don't know. Yeah, yeah, 186 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:29,880 Speaker 1: it replaced it because it was yeah, immune to that 187 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 1: version of the strain strain. But Caven dish banas are 188 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: not immune to the current strain of Panama disease Race four. 189 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 1: Race four was first isolated in Malaysia in nine nine. 190 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 1: Over ten thousand hectares of Cavendish bananas have been destroyed, 191 00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 1: particularly in Australia and Southeast Asia because of this. Africa 192 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: in the Middle East saw the first cases of it 193 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: in and researchers believe Latin America, where most exported banas 194 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 1: are grown, is next. There's no cure for it, and 195 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: it's very difficult to isolate. Cavendish bananas aren't the only 196 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 1: variety at risk either. Race four could take out up 197 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:14,960 Speaker 1: to eight of banana and planting prediction. If y'all have 198 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: ever played the board game Pandemic, yeah, the contagion map 199 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:24,320 Speaker 1: for Race four kind of looks like that. It's specifically, 200 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 1: it looks like everyone is having a really bad time 201 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:30,439 Speaker 1: playing it. Does it looks like? I love this game. 202 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 1: By the way, if you haven't played it, get it. 203 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:34,679 Speaker 1: It looks like, right when you draw the you're already 204 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:37,920 Speaker 1: in a bad spot and you draw the epidemic card. Oh, 205 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,840 Speaker 1: and you're like, oh no, oh, it's over um. And 206 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: part of the problem here is that most domesticated bananas, 207 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: because of the way they're reproduced, are clones, meaning they're 208 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,200 Speaker 1: all susceptible to the same things. Yeah, yeah, and that 209 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: that's why that's why any two bananas look so remarkably 210 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:58,200 Speaker 1: alike and taste so remarkably like one of the articles 211 00:12:58,200 --> 00:12:59,679 Speaker 1: I was reading, and I wish I could remember which 212 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:02,679 Speaker 1: one it was to give the writer proper credit related 213 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 1: them to like McDonald's Hamburger's, Yeah, the Big Mac. Yeah, 214 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: I saw that too. Um. In scientists planted genetically modified 215 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: Cavendish bananas in a place called Humpty Dew in Australia's 216 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,560 Speaker 1: Northern Territory. Yeah, Australia. Yeah, others are trying to cross 217 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: breed to make a hybrid, but the Cavendish is pretty 218 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:24,520 Speaker 1: much sterile, so it makes things difficult. And there are 219 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:27,560 Speaker 1: other projects out there to promote alternate banana types that 220 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:31,560 Speaker 1: might be more resistant. The aforementioned banana coin is actually 221 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:34,839 Speaker 1: a crowdfunding project to develop the Lady Finger variety in 222 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,280 Speaker 1: Laos for sale in China. But it's hard to get 223 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:41,920 Speaker 1: alternatives going because caven Dish bananas are so mass produced 224 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: and so cheap. Yeah, so there's that. Yeah, how did 225 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 1: we get here? How did we get to a world 226 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: that's we got one single type of banana for most everybody. 227 00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: That's what you know, um, and it's in danger. We'll 228 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,120 Speaker 1: talk about it and more politics than we ever imagine. 229 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: After a quick break for a word from our sponsor, 230 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:17,480 Speaker 1: and we're back, Thank you. Sponsored bananas are one of 231 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: the first foodstuffs we humans cultivated. If we want to 232 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 1: go way wait, wait, wait, way back. Some scholars think 233 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 1: that it was a banana not an apple that Eve 234 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 1: accepted in the Garden of Eden. Has to do with 235 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 1: the height of human and the banana leaves being the 236 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: right size to cover her general and other things. But 237 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: that was the two I remember it. They were probably 238 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,760 Speaker 1: first grown in Southeast Asia, possibly more for the practical 239 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:48,080 Speaker 1: uses of the peels and the leaves. Recent archaeological evidence 240 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:51,440 Speaker 1: discovered in Pepal New Guinea dates the oldest known banana 241 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 1: to five thousand BC, and perhaps even further back than that. 242 00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:00,240 Speaker 1: The first written mentioned of the fruit is from India 243 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:03,680 Speaker 1: in five BC, and we can infer from these records 244 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: that bananas were grown similarly at the time as we 245 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:11,360 Speaker 1: grow them today by cloning well um. We can also 246 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 1: infer that bananas might have been around in India as 247 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: far back as three thousand BC. When Alexander the Great 248 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: returned to Europe from India in three seven b C, 249 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: he brought with him bananas. That might be why when 250 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: our old pal Plenty the Elder wrote about them in 251 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,000 Speaker 1: fifty C he said they were most likely native to 252 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: India between sixty three to fourteen BC. Roman Emperor Octavius 253 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: Augustus's personal physician and Tonius Musa was a vocal supporter 254 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:49,640 Speaker 1: for growing bananas. Yes, they're in that genus. That's that's 255 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:52,240 Speaker 1: the Yeah, that's the genus of of banana. Bananas were 256 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 1: brought to Africa and six d fifty c e by 257 00:15:55,480 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 1: Middle Eastern traders and armies. Probably there's some dispute about 258 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: this um. It is christened banan uh derivation of the 259 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: Arabic word for finger. Is around this time that banana 260 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:11,040 Speaker 1: got swept up in the growing slave trade between northern 261 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 1: and Central Africa and Arab nations. After all, they are 262 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:19,000 Speaker 1: a calorie dense food, which makes them a really good staple. Yeah, 263 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 1: but that was all by land, and bananas do not 264 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:27,040 Speaker 1: travel well. Skip ahead to the fifteen hundreds and Spain 265 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: and Portugal are well oiled machines of exploration and exploitation. 266 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: They had found water roots to India, China and the Americas. 267 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:38,720 Speaker 1: And although these water roots didn't speed trade enough to 268 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,520 Speaker 1: get like a fresh African banana into Lisbon in a 269 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: timely manner, they were introducing staple and cash crops into 270 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,160 Speaker 1: all of these new territories as they colonized. Their efforts 271 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: with bananas in the America's, starting with the Canary Islands 272 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: in the early fourteen hundreds, were so successful that some 273 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 1: contemporary travelers and explorers claimed that the fruit was native. Wow. 274 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:03,240 Speaker 1: Did did spread thus throughout the Middle and South America 275 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: and the Caribbean? Yes, and including to England. I suppose 276 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:11,560 Speaker 1: because in eighteen thirty four, the sixth Duke of Devonshire, 277 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:15,240 Speaker 1: William Cavendish, got a shipment of a certain banana he 278 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:17,920 Speaker 1: really liked. Yeah, it was the one that would become 279 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:21,080 Speaker 1: known as the Cavendish. He had his gardener start to 280 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:26,640 Speaker 1: cultivate them in their greenhouses. Along comes businessman Henry Meg's 281 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:30,159 Speaker 1: in eighty nine, moving from the east coast of the 282 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,320 Speaker 1: US to San Francisco to get on get in on 283 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:36,440 Speaker 1: that gold rush action. He had an idea to build 284 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: a huge canning complex and a duck, which he did. However, 285 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,400 Speaker 1: he didn't pay any of his investors back, which, as 286 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:48,439 Speaker 1: you can imagine, annoyed them a little bit. He was 287 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:51,440 Speaker 1: chased out of the country, eventually ending up in Chile. 288 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:55,360 Speaker 1: Oh And that canning and duck complex, by the way, 289 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:59,520 Speaker 1: was later renamed from Meg's Wharf to Fisherman's Wharf in 290 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:02,240 Speaker 1: Safe for Disco. Wait what, yes, that's one of my 291 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:06,400 Speaker 1: favorite kind of unrelated facts of the episode bananas. Okay, 292 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:09,320 Speaker 1: all right, Yeah, Meg's eventually ended up in Chile, as 293 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 1: I said, and he built the country's first railroad. Then 294 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:15,520 Speaker 1: he moved to Peru and put down twelve hundred miles 295 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:18,720 Speaker 1: or about n kiometers of track and this made him 296 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:21,119 Speaker 1: quite wealthy and sort of like a monarch in the 297 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:26,440 Speaker 1: country under his new name Don and he also had 298 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 1: a nephew. This nephew, minor Copper Keith gets a job 299 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,639 Speaker 1: with his uncle developing a railroad in Costa Rica. The 300 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 1: conditions were terrible and over five thousand of his workers 301 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:39,159 Speaker 1: died and it would take twenty years to complete and 302 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,720 Speaker 1: it was a total failure of a passenger train once 303 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: it was completed. But back near at the beginning of 304 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:49,359 Speaker 1: the project, Keith had started planting bananas in cleared areas 305 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:51,880 Speaker 1: around the tracks, which he sold for cheap to his workers. 306 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:55,240 Speaker 1: And once the track was complete, he had this quick 307 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:58,120 Speaker 1: way to get those bananas from these farms inland out 308 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:00,919 Speaker 1: to the ports uh the edges of the island for 309 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 1: shipment to America, so he started doing that. Meanwhile, in 310 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:11,280 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy one, Captain Lorenzo dow Baker started the first 311 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: American banana craze when he brought a hundred and sixty 312 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,800 Speaker 1: bunches of gro Michelle bananas from Jamaica to Jersey City 313 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,040 Speaker 1: and sold them for two bucks per bunch. I looked 314 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:25,200 Speaker 1: it up, that's like thirty five bucks in today's money. Uh. 315 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:30,719 Speaker 1: They were a pop fad and considered a delicacy. Americans 316 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:33,439 Speaker 1: get their first wide scale exposure to the banana at 317 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 1: Philadelphia's eighteen seventy six World's Fair, and starting in the 318 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:42,640 Speaker 1: eighteen eighties, banana recipes started proliferating in American cookbooks, both 319 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:46,919 Speaker 1: banana and banana flavorings and including banana pudding. I went 320 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:49,240 Speaker 1: on a nice rabbit hold about that. It appeared in 321 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: this eight seven joke go Mazers sitting at a table. 322 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,439 Speaker 1: One of them says, this banana pudding is exquisite. It 323 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 1: tastes just like strawberries. And then the other one says, 324 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,359 Speaker 1: and this strawberry shortcake is superb. One would think it 325 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 1: was made of bananas. It's a real Nie slapper. However, 326 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 1: refined victorians might be too ruffled by the suggestive shape 327 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:18,479 Speaker 1: to purchase a banana, causing some merchants to wrap up 328 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 1: banana slices and foil and sell it that way. Amidst 329 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:25,680 Speaker 1: all of this popularity, Captain Baker and a few entrepreneurs 330 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:30,679 Speaker 1: got the idea to capitalize on banana banana madness, and 331 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: so he teamed up with one Andrew Preston to form 332 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,359 Speaker 1: the Boston Fruit Company in eighty five. They were importers 333 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:43,879 Speaker 1: of exotic tropical fruits in a Russian immigrant named Samuel's 334 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,040 Speaker 1: and Murray actually changed the name to that but um 335 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:51,040 Speaker 1: he moved to Alabama, where he saw his first banana. 336 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: He noticed that the Boston Fruit Company was tossing loads 337 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 1: of them out at the time because of how long 338 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:00,879 Speaker 1: it took to move things places. The rule was a 339 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,919 Speaker 1: banana with one freckle was turning and could be okay, 340 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: but two freckles, no, it was ripe, and it never 341 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,320 Speaker 1: survived the trip to the store. But the Murray had 342 00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 1: an idea on a way to sell these right bananas 343 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: destined for garbage. What he did was he bought all 344 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 1: of them up. He runned some space on the Illinois 345 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:22,960 Speaker 1: Central Rail Railroad train, loaded it up with his banana purchase, 346 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:27,800 Speaker 1: and he used the train telegrapher and conductor to get 347 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:32,600 Speaker 1: a message to grocery store owners who wouldn't meet the train. Yeah, 348 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,919 Speaker 1: and by some of the bananas. He was working against 349 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: the clock, selling right bananas out of a slow moving train. 350 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: This wasn't his last foray into the banana business. Oh, 351 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: will be coming back to him. Yeah. In in part 352 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:53,800 Speaker 1: due to the influence of the banana companies, the American 353 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:58,440 Speaker 1: military intervenes in Nicaragua to prevent land and labor reforms, 354 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:04,199 Speaker 1: and this is the first of over thirty instances. Some 355 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,360 Speaker 1: will discuss further. The U. S. Government would step in 356 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 1: to situations that might have impacted the banana companies, sometimes 357 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:16,880 Speaker 1: at the behest of the banana companies. Yep, yeah um 358 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 1: up until most bananas were found in fancy hotels and 359 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:25,200 Speaker 1: came with peeling instructions. An article covering that very topic, 360 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:30,200 Speaker 1: how to peel Banana, appeared in Scientific American that same year. 361 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:34,440 Speaker 1: Here's how they told you to do it. The fruit 362 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:37,959 Speaker 1: is peeled by slitting the skin longitudinally and giving it 363 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,440 Speaker 1: a rotary motion with the hands. The peel having been 364 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 1: thus detached. The fruit is cut into thin transverse slices, 365 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:48,960 Speaker 1: which are dried in the sun or in a furnace. 366 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:52,720 Speaker 1: It's very complicated. I don't I'm still trying to figure 367 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,199 Speaker 1: out it's I think it's a twisted I don't know. 368 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 1: We're making a lot of hand gestures that aren't working. 369 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,640 Speaker 1: Bananas started puffing up in all the cities all over 370 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,240 Speaker 1: North America and Europe, allegedly thinks in part to a 371 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:10,160 Speaker 1: man some call the French Johnny apple Seed Nicola Baldin, 372 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:15,520 Speaker 1: who planted banana stems on the Caribbean islands. A year later, 373 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 1: in nineteen hundred, Americans devoured over a million banana bunches. 374 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:25,359 Speaker 1: Also in eighteen nine, though, these three Sicilian brothers in 375 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:31,520 Speaker 1: New Orleans, the Vaccaros brothers, began importing bananas into New Orleans, 376 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:37,000 Speaker 1: starting a competing business to these already existing ones. And meanwhile, 377 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:42,479 Speaker 1: Minor Keith's Costa Rican banana business was succeeding, but his 378 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:45,159 Speaker 1: investment business took a huge hit when his bank filed 379 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,320 Speaker 1: for bankruptcy. He loses one point five million dollars overnight, 380 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: so he arranges a merger with his biggest competitors, the 381 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:57,240 Speaker 1: Boston Fruit Company. So in eighteen ninety nine they form 382 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:01,600 Speaker 1: the United Fruit Company and immediately begin acquiring other growers 383 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,240 Speaker 1: and distributors. Their transportation was so quick and reliable that 384 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,160 Speaker 1: in nineteen o one, the government of Guatemala hired them 385 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:11,400 Speaker 1: to run the National Post Service, and just three years later, 386 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:15,200 Speaker 1: Guatemala contracted the company to construct and maintain the nation's 387 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: main rail line for years. Wow. It was a dictator 388 00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:21,200 Speaker 1: in Guatemala at the time. And I feel like there's 389 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:25,920 Speaker 1: probably bribery involved. Yeah, probably, uh yeah. So, so they 390 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: were building the the this United Fruit Company out of 391 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:32,400 Speaker 1: the Boston Fruit Company, and Minor Keith had this this, 392 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: this land, these railways, these ships, these bananas, and these 393 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:40,480 Speaker 1: amazing profits. Yeah. I feel like the United Fruit Companies 394 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,440 Speaker 1: just the shadow that hangs over this entire episode. Yeah, 395 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 1: oh um. Somewhere around and here. They also create a 396 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:52,560 Speaker 1: subsidiary called the Fruit Dispatch Company for transportation, research and development, 397 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: and also marketing. I'm having trouble tracking down an exact 398 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: an exact date, but it definitely happened. And to transport 399 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 1: their banana as they used the United Fruit Company steamship service. 400 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: These boats were painted white to reflect the sun and 401 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:10,119 Speaker 1: helped the fruit last longer, mostly bananas um so they 402 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: also went by the Great White Fleet and also banana boats. 403 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:20,840 Speaker 1: Panama Disease Race one first shows up in you guessed it, Panama, 404 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:25,879 Speaker 1: in n it In only five years, it decimated the 405 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:30,399 Speaker 1: entire banana crop in Surinam. Wherever the disease struck, United 406 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:33,360 Speaker 1: Fruit picked up and moved somewhere else in Latin America. 407 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,000 Speaker 1: But everywhere they went, the disease seemed to follow, like 408 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:41,080 Speaker 1: no matter how many incredibly toxic pesticides they spread, which 409 00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:44,879 Speaker 1: they definitely did. Uh. But beyond this mysterious banana disease, 410 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: they also brought with them local disaster. Mindful of profits 411 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,239 Speaker 1: over propriety, they were in a business of bullying. They 412 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,600 Speaker 1: would they would buy up land, tear down the natural 413 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: habitat to build plantations, essentially forced the people who lived 414 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:02,000 Speaker 1: there into these low wage, indentured service tunes, and suppress 415 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: any labor movements that would come up, violently if necessary. 416 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,200 Speaker 1: Latin Americans would come to refer to this company as 417 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:18,080 Speaker 1: El Popo, the octopus. Octopus. Yeah, okay, so that brings 418 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:21,920 Speaker 1: us to United Fruit, big player in this um. We're 419 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:26,959 Speaker 1: gonna be talking more about how they impacted bananas and politics. 420 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 1: But first, but first, we're going to take a quick 421 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:42,160 Speaker 1: breather for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. 422 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,479 Speaker 1: Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. Okay. This brings us 423 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:50,280 Speaker 1: to the term banana republic. Yes, it's not just an 424 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 1: overpriced clothing brand. No, it's nut uh. It refers to 425 00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:59,040 Speaker 1: the power in this context banana producers wielded in the 426 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:01,920 Speaker 1: tree and it was coined in nineteen o four by O. 427 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:06,119 Speaker 1: Henry and his novel Cabbages and Kings. On a lighter note, 428 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 1: this is also when the banana split was invented, in 429 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: the middle of all of that amazing Victorian ice cream 430 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:17,879 Speaker 1: counterculture exactly. Um, this is where it was invented in Pennsylvania. Anyway, 431 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 1: people like to fight about who the real creator is 432 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,280 Speaker 1: and what a real banana split is. Do you know 433 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:26,800 Speaker 1: how people are? Um? And remember the murray Our industrious 434 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:31,560 Speaker 1: train banana salesman. In nineteen ten, he purchased five thousand 435 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:36,080 Speaker 1: acres of land in Honduras for banana plantations. It's like catch. Though, 436 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:38,919 Speaker 1: after he'd already made his purchase, he finds out the 437 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 1: president of Honduras isn't on board with the concessions he 438 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:48,639 Speaker 1: was counting on, mostly around taxes, land and transportation. Oh so, 439 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:49,720 Speaker 1: so what do you do? Do you pack up and 440 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: move to another country? No, you organize a military coup? 441 00:27:54,560 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 1: Oh right, obviously, um, two dudes Lee Christmas and machine 442 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,919 Speaker 1: Gun Muloney snuck past US agents on a single small 443 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: ship with a single box of arms, and in a 444 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:13,520 Speaker 1: few weeks after their arrival, the government collapses. What Zumurray 445 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: gets everything he asked for from the newly installed president 446 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:21,440 Speaker 1: and the HUBBERB. Zumurray company sets up shop in the country. 447 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,960 Speaker 1: That same year, Costa Rica opened the first lab studying 448 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:30,160 Speaker 1: banana genetics. Instead of focusing on coming up with better bananas, though, 449 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:35,320 Speaker 1: they instead decided to go the pesticide fungicide chemical route 450 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 1: to keep bananas nice and cold on ships. The Vaccaros's 451 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 1: company purchases most of the ice factories in New Orleans 452 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 1: in nineteen earning brother Joseph the nickname Ice King long 453 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:52,000 Speaker 1: before adventure time. A year later, the Great White Fleet 454 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: was dry docked for a short period after super fascinating 455 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,440 Speaker 1: historical dude Count Felix von Luckner sunk some of its ships. 456 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: Huh uh more about Oh, Now I want to know 457 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 1: about him? Oh, I had to look him up. It 458 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: was very interesting anyway. In nineteen twelve, the US government 459 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,480 Speaker 1: steps in to stop a rebellion against the Honduran government, 460 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:17,240 Speaker 1: allegedly to protect American banana workers. In nineteen fifteen, the U. S. 461 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 1: Army invades Haiti, then the Dominican Republic in nineteen sixteen, 462 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,960 Speaker 1: and Cuba in nineteen seventeen, where they stayed till nineteen 463 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,360 Speaker 1: thirty three, Panama in nineteen eighteen, Honduras in nineteen nineteen 464 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:33,280 Speaker 1: for the presidential elections, and Guatemala in nineteen twenty and 465 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 1: a two week skirmish with Unionist in nineteen twenty five, 466 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 1: the U. S. Army intervened in the elections in Honduras 467 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:46,239 Speaker 1: and in the striking in Panama, respectively. H Yeah in 468 00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty four. That was the same year that United 469 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 1: Fruit hired doctors too, endorsed mashed bananas as baby food, 470 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,680 Speaker 1: and Dr Sydney Hass publicly advocated bananas as a curative 471 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:03,560 Speaker 1: for children with Ciliak disease. They also launched what they 472 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: called the Home Economics Department, with the goal of familiarizing 473 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: housewives with the fruit and getting images of bananas and textbooks. Yeah, 474 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,960 Speaker 1: they provided schools with a lot of free textbooks that 475 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:20,680 Speaker 1: dedicated a lot to the banana, over fifteen million pieces 476 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 1: of literature around the world by a campaign that included 477 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,840 Speaker 1: coupons for bananas on cereal boxes put banana in the 478 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:32,960 Speaker 1: breakfast category, especially as a cereal topping for the first time. 479 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:36,880 Speaker 1: And this was the first instance of a coupon coming 480 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:40,880 Speaker 1: packaged with another product. A couple of years later, United 481 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 1: Fruits debuted dried banana chips and Panama disease spread to 482 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 1: New Zealand, Australia, China, India and the Canary Islands. Yeah, 483 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:57,160 Speaker 1: crackdown by United Fruit on striking workers in Colombia was 484 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: the inspiration behind the Banana Company and its massacre in 485 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 1: the novel One hundred Years of Solitude. United Fruit funded 486 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:10,240 Speaker 1: US trained vigilanti squads that turned their machine guns on 487 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:14,840 Speaker 1: a crowd protesting crowd to end the strike. The incident 488 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,680 Speaker 1: was covered up and to this day we're not sure 489 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,360 Speaker 1: how many people died, and estimate from United Fruits pose 490 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: its about one thousand, but you know they're probably low balling. 491 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:29,680 Speaker 1: To this day, the skirmishes between the right wing leftovers 492 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:33,880 Speaker 1: of those squads and left wing gangs that Columbia. Columbia 493 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,760 Speaker 1: is still dealing with that and the Justice Department revealed 494 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 1: in two thousand seven that Chaquida had spent more than 495 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:44,560 Speaker 1: one point seven million dollars funding the right wing terrorist 496 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:47,360 Speaker 1: group a u C in Columbia under the guise of 497 00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 1: security between ninet and two thousand four, and the AUC 498 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:57,560 Speaker 1: handles a large part of Columbia's cocaine exports. Shaquita was 499 00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:02,240 Speaker 1: fine twenty five million dollars. Jakida is the brand name 500 00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: that United Fruit would become later on. Also in the twenties, 501 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:10,200 Speaker 1: United Fruit launched a marketing campaign slash tour service on 502 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:14,600 Speaker 1: their banana boats. Um. These these luxury cruise compartments and 503 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:20,960 Speaker 1: tours of very carefully staged plantation scenery. Yeah, um and 504 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:25,520 Speaker 1: the these crews luxury cruises. Um one one of the 505 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:29,960 Speaker 1: big pushes that led tourism in these countries. And the 506 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 1: slogan of their cruise line was where the pirates hid 507 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:38,239 Speaker 1: their gold. Yeah, I don't know about that, hu uh. 508 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:41,560 Speaker 1: And and it was it was all just incredibly profitable. 509 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:45,120 Speaker 1: By the late nineteen twenties, United Fruit. United Fruit had 510 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,920 Speaker 1: sixty seven thousand workers in thirty two countries and one 511 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,960 Speaker 1: point six million acres of land. They were worth over 512 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 1: a hundred million dollars, and in nineteen nine they bought 513 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: Zamuri out in exchange for over thirty one million dollars 514 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:05,480 Speaker 1: in United Fruit stocks, making him the biggest shareholder. By 515 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:08,880 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty, the ripening room that we discussed earlier in 516 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:12,120 Speaker 1: the show had been developed to help with product quality control. 517 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:16,280 Speaker 1: Banana workers go on strike and hunters In nineteen thirty two, 518 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,040 Speaker 1: the strikers are fired and the leader of the movement 519 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:23,640 Speaker 1: is assassinated. The US intervened in El Salvador later that 520 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:26,920 Speaker 1: year as well. In nineteen forty four, the Chiquita brand 521 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,600 Speaker 1: name debuts and uh they were writing off the popularity 522 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 1: of Carmen Miranda's banana dances. The Chakeda Banana slogan came 523 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:37,440 Speaker 1: out the following year in a movie called Mr. Chakeda 524 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: Banana's Beauty Treatment. As the first time you heard the slogan, 525 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:44,720 Speaker 1: um the whole thing the subjectifying of Latina women is 526 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: I don't have to tell you, but it's quite problematic, 527 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: and we did a whole episode on it for stuff 528 00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:52,000 Speaker 1: Mom never told you if you would like to look 529 00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:56,520 Speaker 1: it up. Pablo Naruda's nineteen fifty book of fifty poems, 530 00:33:56,560 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 1: Conto General, had a whole chapter about United for and 531 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 1: the devastation they caused. Um and here's a little, a 532 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:10,400 Speaker 1: little piece, a little taste. The United Fruit Company reserved 533 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 1: for itself the most juicy place, the central coast of 534 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:17,160 Speaker 1: my world, the delicate waste of America. It re baptized 535 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:21,680 Speaker 1: these countries, banana republics, and over the sleeping dead, over 536 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:26,200 Speaker 1: the unquiet heroes who won greatness, liberty, and banners. It 537 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:31,800 Speaker 1: abolished free will, gave out imperial crowns, encouraged in the attracted, 538 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:37,239 Speaker 1: the dictatorship of flies, flies sticky with with submissive blood 539 00:34:37,360 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 1: and marmalade, drunken flies that buzz over the tombs of 540 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:45,880 Speaker 1: the people, circus flies, wise flies, expert at tyranny, A 541 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:49,360 Speaker 1: corpse rolls, a thing without a name, a discarded number, 542 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:52,600 Speaker 1: a bunch of rotten fruit thrown on the garbage heat. 543 00:34:54,000 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean I love Bablo Naruta um well 544 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:04,160 Speaker 1: Za Murray, the Banana Man, as he's sometimes known, retired 545 00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:08,560 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty one. That same year, Guatemala becomes the 546 00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:13,760 Speaker 1: first Central American country to democratically elected leader Kobo A. Benz. 547 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:18,400 Speaker 1: United Fruit is not a fan. His campaign included banana 548 00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:21,120 Speaker 1: workers rights, and they start looking for a way to 549 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:27,000 Speaker 1: quote solve the problem he presents. Their solution was propelled 550 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:32,080 Speaker 1: by purportedly retired Zumurray, who backed the publication of Report 551 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:35,520 Speaker 1: on Guatemala, a book that claimed our Benz was quote 552 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 1: under Moscow's control. Yeah. This was, you know, Cold War, 553 00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:43,560 Speaker 1: during the height of the anti communism. Yes, every member 554 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:46,440 Speaker 1: of Congress received a copy. And now they see a 555 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 1: quote crisis that threatens US interest. President Truman okays the 556 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:56,160 Speaker 1: CIA to act in Guatemala. The US backs Colonel Carlos 557 00:35:56,200 --> 00:36:00,400 Speaker 1: Cristillo and the Liberation War against Communism, as from ponents 558 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:04,040 Speaker 1: called it. Costillo used US bases in Nicaragua to force 559 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:07,279 Speaker 1: our Bands into exile and dropped the legal actions he'd 560 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:12,640 Speaker 1: been supporting against United Fruit. The whole thing influenced Ernesto 561 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:17,879 Speaker 1: Guevara LH to believe revolutions in Latin America would only 562 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:22,480 Speaker 1: succeed through violence. Costillo's US recognized government set up a 563 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:26,480 Speaker 1: National Committee of Defense against Communism Communism to weed out 564 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 1: any remaining Our Bonds supporters. Oh, this was called Operations Success. 565 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:41,200 Speaker 1: Two hundred thousand Guatemalans died. Okay um In We see 566 00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:45,880 Speaker 1: the first commercial Cavendish bananas introduced by Standard Fruit a 567 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:49,319 Speaker 1: decade later. They were pretty much the norm because they 568 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:53,399 Speaker 1: were more delicate than their predecessor gro Michelle. New best 569 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,759 Speaker 1: practices when it came to handling and boxing were implemented, 570 00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:00,000 Speaker 1: and this led to marketing innovations like stickers on each 571 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,680 Speaker 1: banana and waste to track bananas that eventually led to 572 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,520 Speaker 1: the barcodes we used today. Yeah, a lot of the 573 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:10,360 Speaker 1: banana shipping industry has turned into market like, like supermarket wide. 574 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 1: Harry Bellefonte's recording of the banana boat Songdo premiered in 575 00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:20,200 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty five. It was a traditional Jamaican call and 576 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:23,040 Speaker 1: response song. So I've been around a while about banana 577 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:26,719 Speaker 1: workers and you know, wanting to go home. But as 578 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:31,200 Speaker 1: Foster was invented at Brennan's in New Orleans in ninety one. 579 00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:36,400 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty, Shaquita opens a banana research center in Honduras, 580 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:39,960 Speaker 1: helmed by Phil Roe. Roe would go on to become 581 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,440 Speaker 1: the most prolific breeder of new banana species. Um. He 582 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:47,200 Speaker 1: was a big advocate for it, including the hybrid Goldfinger. 583 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:52,960 Speaker 1: After Fidel Castro took control of Cuban banana plantations, the 584 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:57,000 Speaker 1: banana companies allowed the CIA's use of their freighters and 585 00:37:57,080 --> 00:38:02,960 Speaker 1: the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs Invasion. Yeah. Meanwhile, the Vacaro 586 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:06,120 Speaker 1: Brothers company was still kicking around. It had started operating 587 00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:08,799 Speaker 1: under the name Standard Fruit a little bit earlier in 588 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:11,120 Speaker 1: the century, and in nineteen sixty four it did some 589 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: further rebranding, changing the company name two Doll that Do 590 00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:22,800 Speaker 1: whatever doll would be. In nineteen sixty seven, Shaqda printed 591 00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:26,919 Speaker 1: over ninety thousand recipe cards for the previously unheard of 592 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:31,960 Speaker 1: banana and Peter butter sandwiches before nineteen okay yeah. Perhaps 593 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:34,680 Speaker 1: in part due to this, global banana consumption reached four 594 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:40,600 Speaker 1: billion pounds in nineteen and after taking over as chairman 595 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:43,880 Speaker 1: of United Fruit in the nineteen seventies, Eli and Black 596 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,200 Speaker 1: realized that the banana was not as big of a 597 00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:51,560 Speaker 1: moneymaker as he believed it to be. United Fruit had 598 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,680 Speaker 1: spun up a lot of debt, and when Hurricane Fifi 599 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:59,399 Speaker 1: hit in nineteen seventy four, um taking out significant chunk 600 00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:04,600 Speaker 1: of United Fruits. Honduran banana farms. Black sold the business. However, 601 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,759 Speaker 1: the Securities and Exchange Commission the SEC in the US 602 00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:11,760 Speaker 1: wasn't done with him yet. A year later, they produced 603 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,680 Speaker 1: evidence of an attempted two point five million dollar bribe 604 00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:19,879 Speaker 1: Black offered the President of Honduras to lower taxes on 605 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:25,879 Speaker 1: banana X. After the accusation surfaced, Black killed himself by 606 00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:29,440 Speaker 1: jumping out of his office, which was located on the 607 00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:35,000 Speaker 1: forty three or fourth floor um United Fruit pleaded guilty 608 00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:40,520 Speaker 1: to bribery and night and pays a fourteen thousand dollar fine, 609 00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:46,160 Speaker 1: only only fourteen thousand sure. In the nineteen eighties, the 610 00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:50,080 Speaker 1: banana industry planted Cavendish bananas in Malaysia, which may have 611 00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:54,960 Speaker 1: inadvertently um been a huge favor to Panama disease raes 612 00:39:55,040 --> 00:40:01,320 Speaker 1: for Malaysia's where the disease originated. In this Belgian research 613 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:07,280 Speaker 1: organization bio Diversity International, began collecting and distributing banana germ 614 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:11,120 Speaker 1: cells from various species and then they would form the 615 00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:15,400 Speaker 1: Mussa Germ Plasm Transit Center in seven. The organization is 616 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:17,520 Speaker 1: still around and now has a collection of more than 617 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:22,680 Speaker 1: fifteen hundred species of banana in like growth viable samples 618 00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:27,919 Speaker 1: in the nineties, United Fruit attempt to kind of clean 619 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:31,919 Speaker 1: up its image by rebranding as Chakida Brands International, and 620 00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:35,880 Speaker 1: they also used significant political contributions to influence to influence 621 00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:40,399 Speaker 1: international trade policies. Some European governments were placing these really 622 00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:43,480 Speaker 1: heavy tariffs on bananas from the Americas to help keep 623 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:46,680 Speaker 1: plantations and trade in their own former colonies in Africa 624 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:49,000 Speaker 1: and the East afloat, you know, where more of their 625 00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:53,800 Speaker 1: own influential citizens had financial interests. Time magazine later reported 626 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 1: that the CEO of Chikida dispensed so much cash to 627 00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:01,480 Speaker 1: politicians here in America that the Anton administration was ready 628 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:05,680 Speaker 1: to mount a global trade war on his behalf. This 629 00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:08,720 Speaker 1: wouldn't be resolved until two thousand one, and Takeda would 630 00:41:08,719 --> 00:41:14,319 Speaker 1: sue the EU over these tariffs. More investigation by the 631 00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:18,960 Speaker 1: press would lead to a n Cincinnati inquire expose on 632 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:24,120 Speaker 1: Hikida's use of worker rights, repression, harmful pesticides, bribery, and 633 00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:27,520 Speaker 1: all kinds of nasty political dealings in Honduras and Columbia. 634 00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:31,719 Speaker 1: The company would never challenge the facts, but this still 635 00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:35,680 Speaker 1: causes a huge mess that the company's shareholders sued the 636 00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:38,840 Speaker 1: company for losses the company sues the newspaper for maybe 637 00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:42,760 Speaker 1: illegally obtaining answering machine tapes. The court forces the paper 638 00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:45,680 Speaker 1: to fire the reporters and apologize. Yeah, they had to 639 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:52,240 Speaker 1: fire the reporters. Phil Roe, the guy we mentioned earlier 640 00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:55,160 Speaker 1: who invented the gold finger banana and Honduras, hung himself 641 00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:58,759 Speaker 1: in his banana fields in two thousand one. Um. In 642 00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:02,759 Speaker 1: two thousand three, a genetic research lab focused on bananas 643 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:07,160 Speaker 1: opened in Uganda, looking to build a better banana genetically speaking. 644 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:10,360 Speaker 1: And in two thousand seven, doll was sued by a 645 00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:13,160 Speaker 1: workers rights group and wound up paying out two point 646 00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:18,520 Speaker 1: five million dollars. Yes, and they are now suing the 647 00:42:18,520 --> 00:42:23,960 Speaker 1: makers of the documentary called Bananas for defamation. Yes, and 648 00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:28,080 Speaker 1: Chiquita allegedly has a secret lab where they won't tell 649 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:33,040 Speaker 1: anybody that they're working on what. Yeah, so supposedly there's 650 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:36,160 Speaker 1: oh goodness, I forget where it's supposed to be, but yeah, 651 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:40,359 Speaker 1: Costa Rica maybe yeah, I think so. Yeah, anyway, it's 652 00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:45,800 Speaker 1: maybe it's Jurassic Park. I don't know, Drassic Park of bananas. Okay, 653 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:49,279 Speaker 1: well that is so, yeah, there we go. Hey, Hey 654 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:53,040 Speaker 1: we get hey, we got through that. We did and um, 655 00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:57,080 Speaker 1: it's a lot we have to edit out a lot. Um, 656 00:42:57,120 --> 00:42:59,920 Speaker 1: but hopefully that gives you kind of a good over 657 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:04,080 Speaker 1: view of banana history, of the banana history and uh, 658 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,520 Speaker 1: you know, kind of leading into where it is today. 659 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:11,080 Speaker 1: I I I don't believe from what I've read that 660 00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:19,840 Speaker 1: conditions have necessarily improved. No, but hopefully, um, knowing is 661 00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:23,920 Speaker 1: at least half part of the battles. And hey, you 662 00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:27,520 Speaker 1: can make a really good uh quick quick bread, fruit 663 00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:31,520 Speaker 1: based quick bread from ripe pears. Yeah, yeah, yeah you can. Yeah, 664 00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:33,440 Speaker 1: you didn't know more banana bread. It's fine. Yeah, and 665 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:35,480 Speaker 1: that's well, we got to do the research on pairs. 666 00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:42,000 Speaker 1: Oh no, but I have a beat thing to end on. Um. 667 00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:46,440 Speaker 1: So I was curious about some banana sayings and banana humor, 668 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:53,520 Speaker 1: the first being that's bananas and the context meaning crazy. Okay. 669 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:58,239 Speaker 1: So in alban J. Pollock published The Underworld Speaks, which 670 00:43:58,239 --> 00:44:00,799 Speaker 1: was the book meant to help the FBI agents pick 671 00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:04,200 Speaker 1: out gangsters by their speech patterns. Where a choice saw 672 00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:09,120 Speaker 1: that jazz It includes this definition for its bananas. He's 673 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:13,759 Speaker 1: sexually perverted a degenerate HM. Historians think this might be 674 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,600 Speaker 1: because of the bent shape of bananas and bent itself 675 00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:21,239 Speaker 1: was slang for illegal or stolen at the time. This 676 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:24,320 Speaker 1: slang definition meaning crazy seems to have been coined in 677 00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:27,920 Speaker 1: the sixties, but really took off in the seventies. This 678 00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:30,880 Speaker 1: could either be a reference to banana oil, which was 679 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:33,640 Speaker 1: a slang term for the from the nine meaning nonsense 680 00:44:33,719 --> 00:44:37,160 Speaker 1: or persuasive talk like snake oil, or it may have 681 00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:41,279 Speaker 1: been a take on go ape um. It also could 682 00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:44,000 Speaker 1: have been from British soldiers slang out of the early 683 00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:51,200 Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds, meaning spoiled or rotten. Yeah, top banana meaning 684 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:54,720 Speaker 1: the leader of an organization, our group um. This phrase 685 00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:59,560 Speaker 1: originated in the early nineteen hundreds and applied specifically to comedians. 686 00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:03,160 Speaker 1: Legend has it that it's a reference to burlesque comedian 687 00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:07,000 Speaker 1: Frank Lebowitz, whose show included handing out a banana to 688 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:10,200 Speaker 1: the leading performer after a punchline. This act was so 689 00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:12,719 Speaker 1: well known by the nineteen fifties the term took on 690 00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:17,280 Speaker 1: the more general meaning and spawned second banana meaning supporting 691 00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:20,759 Speaker 1: actor are comedian, which is a great segue into our 692 00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:25,920 Speaker 1: next bit, banana humor. Banana bananas are I mean aside 693 00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:29,520 Speaker 1: from all of the literal facts about them, intrinsically hilarious. Yes, 694 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:32,799 Speaker 1: they're the source of a lot of jokes and um, 695 00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:35,120 Speaker 1: a lot of cursing on my end while playing Mario 696 00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:39,240 Speaker 1: Kart sixty four. The first instance of some poor sods 697 00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:41,880 Speaker 1: flipping on a banana peal that we know of is 698 00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:46,000 Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventeen silent film The Flirt for Maximum Polarity. 699 00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:48,120 Speaker 1: It was a waiter carrying a tray of food and 700 00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:52,360 Speaker 1: he got fired immediately. Yeah, Sesame Streets banana phone debut 701 00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:56,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty nine. A banana stuck in the tailpipe 702 00:45:56,239 --> 00:45:59,240 Speaker 1: of a police car was a joke in n Beverly 703 00:45:59,320 --> 00:46:03,439 Speaker 1: Hills the banana stand from the rest of development, there's 704 00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:07,160 Speaker 1: always money in the banana stand, and I'm a banana 705 00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:09,200 Speaker 1: came out and two that's and nine. I'm not going 706 00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:11,400 Speaker 1: to explain it, but to those of you that know 707 00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:14,160 Speaker 1: what I'm talking about, there you go. I didn't know 708 00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:15,839 Speaker 1: what it was, but it was included, and I looked 709 00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:20,160 Speaker 1: it up and I'm like, why is this a thing? Nonetheless, 710 00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:23,640 Speaker 1: it is a thing. I'll have to look it up 711 00:46:23,719 --> 00:46:30,400 Speaker 1: myself later or don't. Okay, perfect that is our banana episode. 712 00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:37,239 Speaker 1: Finally requested, I hope that UM, I hope you enjoyed it. Yeah, 713 00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:38,920 Speaker 1: I hope, I hope it. I hope it taught you 714 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:47,000 Speaker 1: many things about America, imperialism, and industry, which actually is 715 00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:51,680 Speaker 1: a great segue into our first Listener mail. Frequent writer 716 00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:54,600 Speaker 1: Gail sent does this note about garlic. I watched an 717 00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:57,960 Speaker 1: episode and a new Netflix documentary series called Rotten. This 718 00:46:58,040 --> 00:47:00,239 Speaker 1: particular episode that I watched was about garlic and how 719 00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:03,560 Speaker 1: in China some companies force prisoners to do nothing but 720 00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:07,120 Speaker 1: peel garlic for long hours every single day. Some of 721 00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:10,960 Speaker 1: the prisoners had lost their fingernails. I didn't quite understand 722 00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:12,439 Speaker 1: that it had something to do with how they hand 723 00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:15,680 Speaker 1: peeled the garlic without any protective equipment like gloves, etcetera. 724 00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:18,880 Speaker 1: And they would peel garlic with their teeth. I was 725 00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:21,440 Speaker 1: totally grossed out by this, and I'm skeptical now appealed 726 00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:24,000 Speaker 1: garlic you find in jars in the stores. I'm only 727 00:47:24,120 --> 00:47:26,520 Speaker 1: using fresh garlic straight from a bulb from now on. 728 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:29,399 Speaker 1: That did pop up in my feed like right after 729 00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:31,960 Speaker 1: we did this, the garlic episode. Yeah, I haven't seen it, 730 00:47:32,560 --> 00:47:37,719 Speaker 1: but definitely worth looking into. Yeah, and definitely someone on Instagram. 731 00:47:37,719 --> 00:47:40,920 Speaker 1: I don't think it was Gale Uh also recommended that episode, 732 00:47:41,000 --> 00:47:44,920 Speaker 1: So okay yeah. This other one is from another frequent writer, Jenny, 733 00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:48,920 Speaker 1: about our McDonald's episode. I studied first semester in Moscow 734 00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:51,680 Speaker 1: in n I was living in a dormitory on the 735 00:47:51,680 --> 00:47:54,440 Speaker 1: outskirts of town, and we only learned upon arrival that 736 00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:58,160 Speaker 1: there was no cafeteria. Instead, we had poorly equipped kitchen 737 00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,480 Speaker 1: on our floor, and we had to fend for selves, 738 00:48:00,719 --> 00:48:03,600 Speaker 1: which I guess led us to have the full experience 739 00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:06,440 Speaker 1: of living in Russia. The McDonald's near the Kremlin was 740 00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:09,040 Speaker 1: a forty minute metro ride away, and my classmates and 741 00:48:09,040 --> 00:48:10,680 Speaker 1: I would visit it at least once a week for 742 00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:13,600 Speaker 1: the meat. Seriously, none of us were really able to 743 00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:16,920 Speaker 1: cook meat. We had heard that McDonald's had set up 744 00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:19,560 Speaker 1: a big farm outside of Moscow to supply the McDonald's, 745 00:48:19,600 --> 00:48:21,799 Speaker 1: which was why the food there tasted so much more 746 00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:24,560 Speaker 1: delicious and fresh than the McDonald's at home. Whether it 747 00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:27,680 Speaker 1: really tasted better or whether homesickness tricked us into thinking, no, 748 00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:30,279 Speaker 1: I do not know. What I do know is that 749 00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:33,080 Speaker 1: this McDonald's had a very different vibe from the ones 750 00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:36,800 Speaker 1: in the US. First, it was huge, clean, and probably 751 00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:40,080 Speaker 1: had more than a dozen cashier stations. People showed up 752 00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:42,560 Speaker 1: there to eat in their finest clothes, and it was 753 00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:47,280 Speaker 1: really expensive. During the fall of inflation was crazy in Russia. 754 00:48:47,400 --> 00:48:49,640 Speaker 1: When I arrived in September, one U s Dollar was 755 00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:52,719 Speaker 1: equal to about one thousand rubles. When I left in December, 756 00:48:52,840 --> 00:48:55,920 Speaker 1: a dollar equalled around five thousand rubles. I took five 757 00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:58,319 Speaker 1: hundred dollars cash with me to Russia as spending money 758 00:48:58,400 --> 00:49:01,239 Speaker 1: for food, travel, incidentals, and even with the lack of 759 00:49:01,239 --> 00:49:04,040 Speaker 1: the cafeteria in my dormitory, I still left the country 760 00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:06,920 Speaker 1: with money and a suitcase full of souvenirs. If that 761 00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:08,840 Speaker 1: gives you an idea of the state of the economy. 762 00:49:09,239 --> 00:49:12,759 Speaker 1: If memory serves, a big mac was around one thousand rubles, 763 00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:16,000 Speaker 1: super cheap for me, but super expensive for the average Russian. 764 00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:19,080 Speaker 1: I have never really had an urge to return to Russia. However, 765 00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:24,439 Speaker 1: I still occasionally crave those specific burgers and milkshakes, and 766 00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:29,440 Speaker 1: also shout out to wren listeners senters in um photos 767 00:49:30,040 --> 00:49:33,200 Speaker 1: of the Hambord University mcdonald'son We're going to post them. 768 00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:36,040 Speaker 1: They're awesome. I'll have this amazing artwork that that's in there. Oh, 769 00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:38,800 Speaker 1: I can't wait so yeah, yeah, well we'll we'll figure 770 00:49:38,800 --> 00:49:42,600 Speaker 1: out where to probably Facebook maybe, yeah. Yes. So thanks 771 00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:45,399 Speaker 1: to Wren and Jenny and Gail and all the other 772 00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:48,640 Speaker 1: listeners who have sent us messages, and you can send 773 00:49:48,680 --> 00:49:51,319 Speaker 1: us a message to Our email is food Stuff at 774 00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:53,960 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. We're also on social media 775 00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:57,200 Speaker 1: like Facebook. On Facebook and Twitter, we are at food 776 00:49:57,239 --> 00:50:01,319 Speaker 1: stuff hsw over on Instagram, We're at stuff. We hope 777 00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:03,719 Speaker 1: to hear from you. Thank you so much to our 778 00:50:04,080 --> 00:50:08,800 Speaker 1: our sit in recorder Paul, also our producer Dylan Fagan, 779 00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:11,479 Speaker 1: and we hope lots of where good things are coming 780 00:50:11,560 --> 00:50:11,879 Speaker 1: your way