Banana Woes

So I've been eating bananas now, which is all very New to Me. But now their price is going to go up! Hmph!

If curious, read the NYT article on the history of banana-eating. ;-) (Or see an excerpt below.)

On the side... I found a funny blog all about bananas. They report a story about some high school seniors who called in sick to school, and then showed up (in costume) as a bunch of bananas being chased through the hall by a gorilla. And they got suspended for a week! What's with that! Harmless and hilarious, what more could you ask?


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"Once bananas had become widely popular, the companies kept costs low by exercising iron-fisted control over the Latin American countries where the fruit was grown. Workers could not be allowed such basic rights as health care, decent wages or the right to congregate. (In 1929, Colombian troops shot down banana workers and their families who were gathered in a town square after church.) Governments could not be anything but utterly pliable. Over and over, banana companies, aided by the American military, intervened whenever there was a chance that any “banana republic” might end its cooperation. (In 1954, United Fruit helped arrange the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Guatemala.) Labor is still cheap in these countries, and growers still resort to heavy-handed tactics.

...bananas have always been an emblem of a long-distance food chain. Perhaps it’s time we recognize bananas for what they are: an exotic fruit that, some day soon, may slip beyond our reach."