Banana : the fate of the fruit that changed the world
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-264) and index.

In this fascinating exploration of the banana, award-winning journalist Dan Koeppel navigates across the planet and throughout history, telling the cultural and scientific story of the world's most ubiquitous fruit. The banana: convenient, cheap, tasty - a reliable, if plain, family favorite. Or so the average consumer might think. Koeppel debunks the myth of the ordinary banana, revealing its many mysteries and uncovering its shockingly endangered future. Fast-paced and highly entertaining, Banana takes us from jungle to supermarket, from corporate boardrooms to kitchen tables around the world. Beginning with biblical translations indicating that Eve's "apple" was actually a banana, Koeppel then flashes forward to twentieth-century Central America, documenting the rise and fall of aptly named "banana republics" at the hands of American industry - companies now known as Chiquita and Dole. Finally, in a startling investigation of the contemporary banana, Koeppel reports on a war raging under consumers' noses as scientists race to find a cure for a blight striking plantations worldwide. With no conventional remedy in sight, Banana takes us to the forefront of the controversial collision between food and science. -- From back cover