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The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#141

Post by akuchling »

krageon wrote: post #88
onion2k wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That said, I saw huge fields of farmed trees literally everywhere there (as well as in VN). I don't think they are in any real danger of disappearing like these articles say. It is very sensationalist news. "I can't see the problem with my own eyes so I don't think there's a problem." is exactly the sort of thinking that leads to climate denial and anti-vaxx nonsense. Unless you've spent a lot of time and effort unde…

This is a very hostile comment that also does not contribute much to the discussion. The person you are responding to was making the case that in countries outside the traditional view of these media outlets, the alternative breeds are doing fine. That's a case worth making, because it counters the almost propagandist view of the world you will get from your couch reading western media outlets. If you have a quality…

"I saw huge fields of farmed trees literally everywhere there [therefore] I don't think they are in any real danger of disappearing" is not actually an argument, though. There will continue to be huge fields of trees, right up until there aren't.

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#142

Post by omaranto »

sn41 wrote: post #6

Bananas are the prime cautionary tale against monoculture. The number of native breeds which are now gone for the sake of promotion of one particular breed leads to less resilience against disease and pests. Just in my corner of India, there are various varieties. [1] However, in the U.S., the only variety you often get to see is the insipid Cavendish, whose only merit seems to be shelf-life. If you travel in the tro…

I don't get all this talk about "insipid Cavendish". Am I the only one that thinks Cavendish bananas are delicious? Yes, it's true that every other variety I've tried is better (I live in Mexico and we have several varieties of banana and plantain available), but even being the worst kind of banana I still think the Cavendish is very tasty.

When people say it's insipid do they just mean compared to other bananas (in which case I agree)? Are they not eating them ripe or something? Or am I just too easy to please fruit-wise?

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#143

Post by aldoushuxley001 »

disillusioned wrote: post #96

Fun banana facts: Bananas are the most-sold item at most grocery stores and, notably, Wal-Mart. Bananas also have the highest standard deviation in terms of predicting if a given (known) consumer will purchase bananas in a given store run. (At least as compared to other food products and consumables.) When predicting a consumer's shop, it's generally pretty easy to make a highly educated guess about their purchasing…

All pre ripened fruits are gassed with ethylene to ripen them, not just bananas.

Tip: if you want to ripen your fruit or e.g. avocados faster, put them in a bag with a fruit that is ripe because the ripe fruit gives off a lot of ethylene which will ripen the others.

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#144

Post by deadmetheny »

omaranto wrote: post #142
sn41 wrote: post #6

Bananas are the prime cautionary tale against monoculture. The number of native breeds which are now gone for the sake of promotion of one particular breed leads to less resilience against disease and pests. Just in my corner of India, there are various varieties. [1] However, in the U.S., the only variety you often get to see is the insipid Cavendish, whose only merit seems to be shelf-life. If you travel in the tro…

I don't get all this talk about "insipid Cavendish". Am I the only one that thinks Cavendish bananas are delicious? Yes, it's true that every other variety I've tried is better (I live in Mexico and we have several varieties of banana and plantain available), but even being the worst kind of banana I still think the Cavendish is very tasty. When people say it's insipid do they just mean compared to other bananas (in…

In my experience it's just that other varieties just taste better. The Cavendish isn't bad, strictly speaking, it's just grown because it ships and stores very well.

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#145

Post by roywiggins »

krageon wrote: post #90
pfdietz wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people are using irrational thought processes to come to nonsensical conclusions. The anti-GMO business is feeling over reason.

Saying that you don't trust a scientist with only a tenuous grasp (because that is all we have) of what nutrition is or should be (and what things might be harmful over 10-30 years) to make grand and sweeping changes to how an organism works is not feeling over reason. It is a different form of risk-management, one that you might not agree with (and that's fine).

What if, instead of replacing the Gros Michel back when it got wiped out, we had been able to replace it with a GMO Gros Michel instead of the Cavendish. Why would a GMO Gros Michel seem more risky than the Cavendish- a completely different varietal, that is almost certainly more unlike the Gros Michel, nutritionally, than a GMO Gros Michel.

We switched the entire planet over from Gros Michel to Cavendish with basically no studies of nutritional impact or whatever, and it was fine. They're both bananas, bananas are basically similar to each other, they taste a bit different but they're fine.

Why be more afraid of a GMO Cavendish than whichever other varietal gets pulled out this time? A GMO Cavendish would be less change.

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#146

Post by Invictus0 »

Aloha wrote: post #48
autokad wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to have GMO big mikes =(

I've always wanted to try a Big Mike

I was recently in Colombia and made a point to find one. They are indeed much creamier and tastier than the Cavendish but nothing to lose your mind over. I still eat bananas regularly but even months later I find the taste dull relative to the Big Mike.

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#147

Post by amyjess »

Aloha wrote: post #48
autokad wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to have GMO big mikes =(

I've always wanted to try a Big Mike

This alone is the reason why visiting Thailand is on my bucket list. They're still grown there.

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#148

Post by rwmj »

anfilt wrote: post #8

I find it weird that people would not like other variety of bananas. Like there are generally more than one type of apples, potatoes, onions, tomotoes, and lettuce at most grocery stores. I would like the choice.

When I was in Bali there were several varieties. They were smaller than Cavendish, but all were perfectly pleasant to eat so I wonder why we can't have those in the US and Europe.

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#150

Post by jmull »

burfog wrote: post #106
anfilt wrote: post #8

I find it weird that people would not like other variety of bananas. Like there are generally more than one type of apples, potatoes, onions, tomotoes, and lettuce at most grocery stores. I would like the choice.

With most of those, each type has a distinct use. Granny Smith apples are for baking, McIntosh apples are for eating fresh, Red Delicious apples are for decoration, and the rest serve no purpose. Russet potatoes are for baking, stew, and fries. Purple potatoes are for frying up with steak. The rest serve no purpose. It's different with bananas. Cavendish is good. Maybe the Gros Michel is good too, but I wouldn't know…

I can assure you, you are very wrong about the uses of other varieties of Apples and Potatoes. You're also wrong about russet potatoes for stew -- other varieties work out a lot better when you want your potatoes to hold their shape.

(I would assume likewise with bananas as well, but I don't have the experience to know myself.)

It's OK -- maybe you don't have the most acute tastebuds or just lack a culinary interest. It's even pretty much dead wrong to think about these things in terms of uses. Food can be a delight and an art, and proscribed "use" doesn't allow for that.

Anyway: if you haven't tried it in a while, branch out. You might really enjoy and appreciate what you've been missing out on.

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