I’m betting we’ll be worried about Global Cooling knocking off bananas 'round about then…we have a poor track record as a civilization predicting any colony collapses accurately. We have a great track record with extrapolating a handful of elements out to their most extreme potentials, though.
The article I initially read on this took the view that the Cavendish had been an inferior substitute, taste-wise, for the Gros Michel. Any way they could bring back some disease resistant version of the Gros Michel, sort of like re-planting elms after Dutch Elm Disease?
What, no bacon flavored bananas?
Some guys use rolled up socks.
Look, there are literally hundreds of varieties of bananas that are resistant to the creeping crud that will eventually get the Cavendish banana.
This is like worrying about a blight that will take out the apple–but it only affects Red Delicious apples. If Red Delicious == Apple, then that’s bad. But there are lots of other varieties out there if you don’t insist on Red Delicious. It’s kind of odd that in 2009 with new varieties of every kind of fruit and vegetable available in the supermarkets that we only have one kind of banana.
Kirl Cameron and the banana
But you know, I always wanted to ask, if it was TRULY the perfectly designed food, wouldn’t the wrapper be edible too?
I love the comments:
“According to his argument we are all also designed to suck dick.”
The best thing about the whole banana intelligent design thing is that it is basically true. Bananas were created by an intelligence for the benefit of mankind. The original bananas are stubby little things with big seeds in them.
Most of our food crops bare little resemblance to the original plants. Year of careful breeding by people created the banana, wheat, barely, corn, broccoli etc.
Nope. Commercial bananas are a sterile hybrid. They don;t exist in the wild because they are, well, sterile. There are dozens of species of bananas in a zone stretching from Australia to China, but none of them are sterile. They all have large seeds and not much flesh and that makes them less than appealing.
We could probably breed new sterile hybrids form those wild species, but AFAIK nobody’s trying.
There is definitely research going on into bananas.
The above article talks about the Cavendish and how doomed it is. It discusses the industry’s research into other bananas. And how the Cavendish we have now is the replacement for the previous variety that was wiped out.
The above link is from this Duckster’s post in this thread.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11169107
I hope so. Cucumber Split Sundaes may be slightly healthier but I doubt they’d be as good.
Yep, but as I said, none of it involves creating new sterile hybrids form wild species, AFAIK
Those links you posted don’t seem to mention any such work being done.
Well, there’s always my creation: the bacon-wrapped, deep-fried banana-on-a-stick.
Coming soon to a county fair near you.
The NY Times article talked about a research scientist developing other strains of bananas.
Sounds to me like they are making sterile hybrids.
Yes, but for the third time, they are not making new sterile hybrids from wild species. It says so right there in that section you quoted:
“Cultivated bananas never reproduce sexually on their own…Forcing the pollen from one male flower to make its way to the female of another plant, however, is how traditional banana breeders like Aguilar’s team develop new varieties.”
There are no wild varieties being used here. These are hybrids of cultivated banana varieties, which never produce sexually on their own. This is not an example of creating new sterile hybrids from wild, seed producing species. It is an example of making new hybrids from cultivated, dometsicated sterile hybrids.
So as I said originally, we could probably breed new sterile hybrids form those wild species, but AFAIK nobody’s trying.
I once read that eating two bananas a day for three days gives you a natural boost in serotonin, something to do with one of the chemicals in a banana. So I tried it and I swear, on the third day, I felt quite happy and bouyant.
I don’t know whether this is some kind of placebo or I imagined it or it was a coincidence but I’d be grateful if other people could try it to see if it works. You just need to eat two bananas a day for three days and see how you feel on the third and fourth days.
Blake I don’t know what you are so cranky about. The article is talking about using the 350 or so species of bananas collected over the years and crossing them to come up with new varieties.
I’m afraid I’m going to have to pressure you into becoming a business partner, least you provide competition to our deep fried chocolate covered sausage stand.
No, it is talking about nothing of the kind.
The only use if the word wild is in in the context of “wild idea”.
I’m not getting cranky. I am getting somewhat frustrated at having to repeat a simple, throwaway statement 5 times to correct misunderstandings because people misread simple sentences, even after I point out that the article doesn’t say that.
The issue itself is not that big a deal. Maybe someone somewhere is breeding new sterile hybrids form those wild species. It’s certainly possible. But AFAIK they aren’t.
But in the interests of fighting ignorance it’s worth pointing out that those articles certainly are not discussing any such thing. They are discussing creation of new hybrids of cultivated banana varieties. A variety is not a wild species. It doesn’t matter if you use germplasm from 350 varieties from all over the world or 2 varieties from Bali, you are still producing sterile domestic hybrids from sterile domestic germplasm, not sterile hybrids from wild fertile germplasm.
So you think they are cross pollinating domestic bananas? Sterile, domestic bananas? What good is pollinating a sterile banana?