Bobby the Banana

For this course I am taking a "Food For Thought" class. We are talking about ingredients that are put in foods in markets that we buy. Also, the major products that are put in products nowadays have ingredients that we are not familiar with or aware of.  For example, corn is a vegetable that is put in mostly everything. This is why we want to go deep into these ingredients and see how they developed and how and why they are how they look and taste. For this Project, we were assigned to design a family tree with the roots of our families and all types of favorite foods they liked. These favorite foods of my family all have background ingredients that I don't know. A famous thing that we eat at home is Plantain, "Plantano" in Spanish. I decided to research plantain and learn the interesting characteristics about bananas and different ways they can be cooked. Here is a autobiography of plantains.

"Family Tree". 2014 By. J.R.

Hi I’m Bobby the Banana, I am also known as Plantain. I am a very well known product from all around the world. I originated from Southeast Asia to the South Pacific around 8,000 to 5,000 BCE. In early 3,000 BCE Bananas were dispersed far and wide across the tropics, in all directions. Therefore, plantains may have been growing in Eastern Africa in the early years of 3,000 BCE. As you may know “Banana” is the typical name that we call plantains nowadays. “Banana” is the name given to those plants that produce a sweeter form of fruit. There are about fifty recognized brothers and sisters of mine, which is pretty awesome.

In many cultures I am put in their foods like rice, which goes perfect. I love being sweet. There’s so many ways to cook me and eat me! I can be fried, cooked, smashed and also baked for banana bread as well. I have traveled all around to many countries. They just love me too much. I love to be shipped to other countries, it's a very amazing ride. Sometimes when people buy me, they leave me in their kitchen for so long that I start to rot and get nasty, but sometimes I still get eaten. It's very easy to peel me when I am ripped because I get softer and a little bit weak. After I am ripped, my outer skin usually is dark brown or black.

I grow well in non-tropical climates. My temperature has to be around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. My siblings and I have been cultivated in nearly all tropical regions of the world. Africa is the home of the African highland banana. After I am disseminated all around the world, I get brought to food markets that buy me and my family in boxes. We get put in baskets and bags after we are shipped to these markets. When we're all settled, we get bought by people that shop and buy products from the food market or grocery store. People usually put us in bags in dozens. It gets very hot in there sometimes. Then, we travel to the person's house who bought us. When we are there we are set on counters or in pantries.

Sometimes me and my family just sit there for so many days without being cooked, which is good, but then we start to rot and smell extremely bad. We bananas don't use deodorant. You have to cook us quick that way you can enjoy the tasty flavor we have. "Plantains are so good" I heard this girl's mom say, but when we are put in a kitchen with my other fruit friends, I get peeled and cut into slices, which hurts but not that bad. I get fried for about 6-7 minutes on one side, then flipped so that way I am fully cooked and ready to be set in a plate. We are usually always combined with lots of rice. After I am put in a plate I get eaten and then more of my siblings are grown and grown again.

Sincerely, "Bobby The Banana" Age 34

Born In 1822 Died In 1856.

Sources

Custom Home | Promusa - Mobilizing Banana Science for Sustainable Livelihoods." Custom Home | Promusa - Mobilizing Banana Science for Sustainable Livelihoods. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

Agricultural Biodiversity." Researching Agricultural and Forest Biodiversity. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014

MUSALAC." MUSALAC. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.