The Cavendish Banana

A peanut butter sandwich, a banana and a glass of soy milk.

It may not be as poetic as, “a loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou”, but it works pretty well for me.

I am a creature of habit. I need nourishment soon after I rise in the morning and I usually have the sandwich, fruit and beverage that I mentioned above. Lately however I have been concerned about reports that the banana, as we know it, may become unavailable in the next ten to twenty years.

Bananas were practically unknown in America before 1870. The only real fresh fruits available in our produce stores during the winter months were from the citrus family. Two different individuals discovered the year round marketability of bananas at nearly the same time and by 1899 the various operations had merged to form the United Fruit Company. Because the fruit was available year round and could be picked green and allowed to ripen either naturally or in gas chambers it was easy to promote and deliver on a regular basis.

There are hundreds of varieties of bananas from all over the world. Some have large seeds and they vary in color, size, sweetness and texture. Most of our bananas come from the Caribbean and the variety we see in abundance in our grocery stores is the Cavendish. But that was not the variety that was marketed originally by the United Fruit Company. The first popular variety was the Gros Michel. It sounds like such a royal name that I cannot help but wonder how it tasted. I will probably never have the opportunity to find out. By the 1950s the Gros Michel was dying in large numbers due to Panama disease. It soon became unprofitable to produce and market it so the company replaced it with the Cavendish. The problem that some scientists are predicting is that this variety is doomed to a similar fate in the foreseeable future. What will replace our precious banana? Who knows? I hope it doesn’t have large seeds because as the Hoosier Hot Shots put it so musically, I Like Banana Because They Have No Bones.

The banana is such a large part of our food culture here in the United States that we take it for granted.

One of my favorite character actors is the late Andy Devine. If you are a fan of old Westerns you will undoubtedly remember him as “Cookie”, the side kick of Roy Rogers. He had a high pitched whining kind of a voice that contrasted well with his rather large frame. I like to think of him as being “traditionally built” but then I also like to think of myself as being the same size that I was in High School. I like to think lots of things. I digress.

The Great Andy Devine

Mr. Devine had a long and wonderful career and appeared in well over a hundred movies and many TV shows. He was in the classic western, Stagecoach as well as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Word and Myra Breckenridge. His television appearances include everything from Bonanza, Twilight Zone and Batman to a regular character in the first year of the show Flipper.

He characters were often humorous but he did dramatic roles as well. Probably the role he is remembered for most in our house is the voice of Friar Tuck in the Disney animated film Robin Hood.

Frank Zappa wrote a song called Andy that is a reference to him and contains some very strange lyrics but that is nothing unusual for Mr. Zappa.

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were watching a movie I borrowed from the library called Torrid Zone.

When I was kid and we only had two or if we were lucky three stations we could watch on our television, the networks used to have regular hours set aside for old movies. I guess they had a harder time filling time slots so whenever they were at a loss as to what to use to fill a couple of hours they would show some old movie. I remember in particular an afternoon slot at around 4:00 PM when either NBC or CBS would show an afternoon movie. Most of the time I was outside riding my bike or playing baseball or fishing, but occasionally the weather would be bad or I would just be bored so I would plop down in front of the old black and white set and watch whatever movies they had on.

While watching the Torrid Zone the other night I remembered seeing it as a child on one of those quiet afternoons I spent in front of the set.

Torrid Zone is from 1940 and it stars Pat O’Brien, James Cagney and Ann Sheridan. The action takes place on a banana plantation somewhere in the Caribbean. Pat O’Brien is the manager and James Cagney plays an overseer who works off and on for O’Brien. Cagney is one of the few people capable of getting the bananas to the shipping port on a regular basis. Ann Sheridan is a singer/card shark who is passing through the local port.

Pat ‘Obrien basically runs the whole town. The local police do everything he says and he wants Ann Sheridan out of the way and on down the road. He cannot tolerate anything the does not help get his precious fruit shipped.

The actual history of the United Fruit Company was quite close to this in the way they operated in Guatemala, Costa Rica and other banana producing countries. They were such a large part of the economy of these small underdeveloped nations that the company itself was pretty much the law and what was good for the company was what was good for the country. If you have ever heard of the term “Banana Republic” this is where it comes from.

In the movie a local peasant hero is captured and sentenced to die by a firing squad. He meets Ann Sheridan in jail and as he is leaving to go to his execution he gives her a ring he is wearing.

The particular piece of dialogue that I remembered from my childhood is when he tells her that he won’t need the ring where he is going. Her reply is classic.

“What, are you afraid it will melt”?

The whole movie is full of snappy one-liners like that and I found it a joy to watch.

And to make it even better, Andy Devine plays James Cagney’s helper. His whiney voice and comical expressions fit right in with the quick repartee of the other stars. The movie is a great example of fast pace modern humor and a great example of just how much control this American business had over the politics of these small countries. Gee, I wonder? Do you suppose American businesses have any control over foreign economies and politics anymore? I guess I’ll just let that one lie there.

Another nod to the notion of a “Banana Republic” can be seen in Woody Allen’s great early film, appropriately entitled Bananas. Woody, of course, takes the whole concept way over the top in a slapstick manner, but it still works very well.

Banana (the book)

While writing this I dug around into some of the many books I own on food and cooking and came up with a gem of a book called The Banana by Philip Keep Reynolds. It was printed in 1927 and has a tipped in sheet in the front of it that indicates it was a gift to someone from the Fruit Dispatch Company. The book is full of black and white photographs, maps and illustrations and it chronicles the early history of banana production and marketing in and around the United States and the Caribbean. Of course this is about the Gros Michel variety not the Cavendish. At this point the Gros Michel was not dying from Panama disease.

I’m sure that the reason I like peanut butter and bananas so much is because we always had them in the house when I was a kid. Whenever we were hungry and there wasn’t anything else to devour my Mom would say, “Go make a peanut butter sandwich”.

Now we are faced with the demise of the banana as we know it and added to that is the new threat of salmonella in our peanut butter. I’m sure you are all aware of the massive recall of certain peanut butter products. My wife told me the other day that I should stop eating peanut butter sandwiches to be on the safe side. I don’t know that I need to be that concerned but who knows? If you don’t see a post from me after this, I guess you might consider that I ate one too many PB sandwiches.

It was great watching that old movie and making that connection with my childhood. Peanut butter and bananas may end up going the way of the late great Andy Devine. Just like many people, I try to hold on to the past but change is inevitable. What I think is important is not the things we had or the things we try to hold onto. The real value is in the memories. No one can take those from us.

The Best Neighbors

I wrote a post for this site two days ago and left out only the details of our neighbors’ food.

I knew what I was making and while Tim had told me what he was bringing, I wanted to taste it and photograph it and talk to him about its construction. I also wrote of the glowing victory that I hoped in my heart of hearts would come to be. I am a Steelers fan.

But last night as I lay in bed and went over in my mind the details of this forty-third Super Bowl I realized that everything I had written was meaningless. The story itself was true. The facts were accurate but they did not represent what happened in my house as I sat and watched the best football game I have ever seen in my life.

Football Food

My wife and I were both looking forward to getting together with Sara and Tim. They are truly good friends and we love living next door to them. I made some vegetarian chili because Sara avoids meat and I also deep fried some chicken drumettes and tossed them in hot sauce to eat with celery and blue cheese dressing.

I was very excited about the food that the neighbors were bringing because they love to cook and talk and laugh and eat as much as we do. Tim is a particularly good cook and he always makes great stuff. He brought dates stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon. Outstanding.

He also prepared an enchilada type dish that consisted of tamales and cheese wrapped in egg roll wrappers and fried. These were great as well. His third contribution, as if we needed more food for the four of us, was a platter of lamb burger sliders with a great salsa and caramelized onions to use as condiments. We had enough to eat.

The company and food were great but I am still in a little bit of shock about the game itself.

I knew that it would not be a runaway. The Cardinals were not supposed to be here but teams like that are sometimes called to a higher destiny and they obviously played an outstanding game.

What did we get this Super Bowl by way of entertainment?

Football

We got a 100 yard interception and run back for a touchdown that left me gasping for air as much as it did James Harrison.

We had field goals and touchdowns and extra points and even a safety.

We saw a team give up a lead that they had only lost a game with once in the last 154 games and then we saw them take it back. For the last twenty years they are 153-1-1 when leading by that wide a margin. In playoff games during that time period with the same lead, they have never lost.

We saw the youngest coach in Super Bowl history claim the championship and win a sixth franchise Super Bowl, more than any team has ever won in the history of the NFL.

What did Bob get?

I have never felt so drained from watching a sporting event in my life. As the first half ended I sat in fear of the Steelers giving up their small lead. Lightning struck and James Harrison did the impossible.  As I watched the lead run away from the Steelers like the deer that Fitzgerald is in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter I felt the life drain out of me. These are the kind of wins that the Cardinals have put up in the playoffs and this is the kind of come from behind inspirational story that Hollywood gives us. You know; the kind that we just can’t believe. And then, in the remaining two minutes we saw Big Ben and Santonio Holmes perform a miracle of their own. It was several minutes before I could compose myself and open the champagne (the real French stuff) to offer our guests in celebration. Whew!

There were also some very disappointing things that happened on that field Sunday. Several personal fouls were called on both teams that I found regrettable. I know that one needs to be pumped in order to do your best, but there were occasions that the unsportsmanlike behavior went too far. These things dirty the game and take away from the excitement and fun of the day. I don’t mean to cast stones but I find them distasteful.

We had a great time. We laughed. We ate great food that we all contributed to and we did that thing that is so important to enjoying life in general. We spent time with other humans. I thank God for that even more than the victory.

A small moment of celebration