Discussing the "Banana Wars", by Striffler, made me think back again to my trip this past year to Trinidad. Although cocoa (Theobroma cacao) is the largest export for this island of the Caribbean, within the cocoa plantations one could easily find many banana plants (Musa spp.). I imagine that these fruits were largely for the farmers' own use rather than for profit.
It is interesting though to see how they (they being the Spanish) introduced the banana plant to the island but Trinidad never did take on the status of "Banana Republic". Bananas are an introduced species in Trinidad as well as all of the Caribbean islands. Bananas were actually domesticated somewhere in southeastern Asia. The reason Trinidad never became one of the banana exporting islands is most likely because the trade of bananas did not take off until the 19th century, whereas cocoa was introduced in Trinidad in the 18th century. Thus, the market for cocoa was already established in Trinidad before bananas were recognized as a profitable crop.
So just as a small side on this topic, I decided to throw in a little bit of nutritional information on bananas.
Bananas consist of mainly carbohydrates in the form of sugar. So if you aren't worried about following the Atkin's diet, the next time you need a healthy snack, grab a banana. You can learn more about the nutritional facts of bananas than you ever thought possible, as well as calculate the nutrient amounts per serving of a banana based on the size (weight) of the fruit: check out NutritionData.com for the facts.
Oh, and if you want to keep up with the latest banana news check out The Yummy Banana!
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