## ch00 The World's Most Humble Fruit ### pxii bananas are herb berries > A banana tree isn't a tree at all; it's the world's largest herb. The fruit itself is actually a giant berry. ### pxiii ** > The bananas we eat today never reproduce on their own. They _must_ have human assistance. - [n] #pkm/synthesize what are other examples of domestic crops like this? Also, this is a good example of symbiosis. #nonfic/overviewTopic (symbiosis) see also: [[unexpectedly symbiotic relationships]] > Bananas were first farmed more than seven thousand years ago. - [n] #pkm/synthesize [[domestication timeline]] > Bananas are the world's largest fruit crop and the fourth-largest product grown overall, after wheat, rice, and corn. > Bananas surpassed apples to become America's best seller despite the fact that the banana is a tropical product that rots easily and needs to be shipped up to thousands of miles, while apples grow within a few hours of most U .S. cities - [n] #fic/expandWorldbuilding this is a really relevant fact for [[Verraine]] trade routes and worldbuilding; don't fall into the trap of assuming that they'll all eat local foods, and maybe a cool #fic/storyStem would be someone lamenting that people _don't_ eat sensible local foods. Could relate this to the chef stories like [[2022.02.02 The Bitter Business of Sweetwater Beans (FF)]] > The companies invented not just radio networks but entire technologies — some still in use today — to allow communication between plantations and cargo vessels approaching port - [n] neat example of tech getting invented for something other than war. ### pxiv > In the most ancient translations of the Bible, the "apple" consumed by Egve in the Garden of Eden is the more suggestive banana - [n] this doesn't feel true, I've always heard it was an allegory for wheat? #nonfic/article to confirm. Maybe ask over at [[Reddit]] r/AcademicBiblical ### pxv > Panama disease — actually a fungus — is particularly virulent. It is transmitted through soil and water. Once it hits a plantation, it quickly destroys, and then moves on. - [n] #pkm/synthesize [[fungus]] #pkm/synthesize > Unlike peaches or plums, bananas all ripen at nearly the same rate, arriving at the store green and cycling from yellow to flecked with brown in almost exactly seven days. There is no fruit more consistent or reliable, which is one of the reasons we eat so many of them. A banana's taste and visual appearance are as predictable as a Big Mac's. - [n] #fic/expandWorldbuilding to invent something similar? But the general point is really related to supply chain and reliability and the modern preference for replicable, consistent things. ### pxvi > Because every banana is the same, every banana is equally susceptible: Billions of identical twins means that what makes one banana sick makes every banana sick. #pkm/synthesize [[Tamed by Alice Roberts]] > Many of the world's non-Cavendish varieties of bananas are also susceptible to Panam adisease. When the malady hits, it is always devastating. The difference is that these are _local_ bananas. Because their growing area is limited, many outbreaks simply reach a dead end. Panama disease never moved across the Atlantic or Pacific because the commercial banana crop didn't mingle with the fruit people grew and ate closer to their homes. ### pxvii > Cavendish plantations were new to Malaysia in the 1980s, but within a few years of breaking ground, the newly planted fruit began to die. An unknown pathogen was working its way into the roots of the plant, discoloring leaves, and choking off water supplies. It turned out that the Cavendish had never actually been immune to the blight—only to the particular strain of the sickness that destroyed the Gros Michel. That version of Panama disease was only found in the Western Hemisphere. But the sickness lurking in Malaysian soil was different: It was not only deadly to the Cavendish, it killed and moved faster. ### pxviii > Today, the blight is tearing through banana crops worldwide. It has spread to Pakistan, the Philippines, and Indonesia. IT is on the rise in Africa. The best hope for a more hardy banana is genetic engineering—work in the lab that adds DNA from one organism to another. But even if that succeeds, there's an excellent chance people won't want to eat and won't be allowed to eat bananas that gain newfound sterngth from the inersrtion of genes originally found in everything from radishes to fish. - [n] #pkm/synthesize [[Tamed by Alice Roberts]] - [n] #fic/storyStem this reluctance to eat genetically engineered crops could be turned into an analogy / allegory involving magic in the [[Verraine]] universe, potentially with [[The Gardener]] storyline.