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This story seems to get republished every six months or so, and without fail it always hews closely to the storyline "only genetic engineering can save the bana

This story seems to get republished every six months or so, and without fail it always hews closely to the storyline "only genetic engineering can save the banana!" Here are a couple from all the way back in 2011, for example: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/10/we-have-no-bananas https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/10/we-have-no-ban... http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/30953/title/The-Beginning-of-the-End-for-Bananas-/ http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/30953/... James Dale's publicist is certainly earning their pay...

outsidetheparty 9y ago
Ha! I take it back: some of them aren't about "only genetic engineering can save the banana", here's one that's about "only genetic engineering can improve the banana" -- which happens to use the exact same photo presumably supplied by the exact same hard-working publicist: http://newatlas.com/golden-banana/50389/ http://newatlas.com/golden-banana/50389/
- HillaryBriss 9y ago
  whether or not there's a subtheme that genetic engineering is required to save it, i've been hearing this story about the imminent decline of the Cavendish for about a decade. maybe LA shoppers are just lucky, but i've seen plentiful alternative varieties in grocery stores here, including "Cuban/Jamaican Red", "Thai" (a little bit like Hawaii's "Ice Cream Banana"), and "Burro." they usually taste better than the Cavendish. and, on sale, you can get 3 pounds for a dollar. i occasionally see fruit-bearing banana plants growing in Los Angeles itself. i've tried some of these and they also taste better than the Cavendish.
  - stephenr 9y ago
    I don’t know what a “Thai” banana in LA is like but a “thai” banana in Thailand is a horrible thing compared to a cavendish.
    - HillaryBriss 9y ago
      if i'm not mistaken, the "Thai" bananas i saw in LA were grown in Guatemala.
      - stephenr 9y ago
        I haven't looked (literally the only thing I use them for is making smoothies when our Cavendish plants aren't producing) but I believe the "Thai" ones (or similar) are available in other SE Asian countries too, so it's possible they're very similar/the same thing. They look very similar (very much like 3rd from the left in https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Bananavarieties.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Bananava...) when peeled (apart from size - they're generally 1/2 or 1/3 the length of an average Cavendish and a little fatter, relative to length) but they're much 'juicier' and probably a little sweeter too. The taste itself isn't enough to put me off (see above about smoothies) but the texture is unbearable, it's like an over-ripe Cavendish. Edit: for some growing-bananas-in-thailand trivia: Here at least, the little horrible ones grow a lot faster and are much more durable than Cavendish. The tallest Cavendish plant we've had so far is maybe 2.5m tall - I can always grab the bunch when cutting them, and generally I can carry the bunch one handed. The "Thai" ones are giant plants by comparison - usually 4-5M when they produce, and the biggest bunches I can't carry at all. Then you have the giant Thai ones (the name translates as "Elephant banana") - the plant is as big as the regular Thai ones, but slower to produce fruit. The fruit itself are like a Cavendish on steroids - easily 2x the size, but horrible to eat, not even any good for smoothies. Even my in-laws don't know anyone who actually eats these ones. Then there's the even tinier Thai ones (the name translates as "Egg banana") which have a quite short, but very leafy plant (maybe 2-2.5M tall at most) with lots of offshoots. The fruit itself are tiny - most plants here the bunch never drops down to 'hang' because it's not heavy enough, and the bananas are, as the name suggests, comparable in size to a large chicken or duck egg, and almost egg shaped too. Thus concludes my tale.
  - 8ytecoder 9y ago
    I grew up eating at least 10 different varieties of bananas. US is a banana desert in comparison - no variety or choice. US multinational corporations via their Latin American banana farms control much of the trade.
ctchocula 9y ago
That was my thinking as well. Here's an article from 2005 [1]. I remember hearing about it in the early 2000s. [1] https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-06/can-fruit-be-saved https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-06/can-fruit-be-...
ChuckMcM 9y ago
I was going to mention this as well. I've wondered over the years who benefits from scaring people into believing bananas are going to all go away.
InclinedPlane 9y ago
I hear suits are making a comeback.

outsidetheparty 9y ago

Ha! I take it back: some of them aren't about "only genetic engineering can save the banana", here's one that's about "only genetic engineering can improve the banana" -- which happens to use the exact same photo presumably supplied by the exact same hard-working publicist: http://newatlas.com/golden-banana/50389/ http://newatlas.com/golden-banana/50389/

HillaryBriss 9y ago
whether or not there's a subtheme that genetic engineering is required to save it, i've been hearing this story about the imminent decline of the Cavendish for about a decade. maybe LA shoppers are just lucky, but i've seen plentiful alternative varieties in grocery stores here, including "Cuban/Jamaican Red", "Thai" (a little bit like Hawaii's "Ice Cream Banana"), and "Burro." they usually taste better than the Cavendish. and, on sale, you can get 3 pounds for a dollar. i occasionally see fruit-bearing banana plants growing in Los Angeles itself. i've tried some of these and they also taste better than the Cavendish.
- stephenr 9y ago
  I don’t know what a “Thai” banana in LA is like but a “thai” banana in Thailand is a horrible thing compared to a cavendish.
  - HillaryBriss 9y ago
    if i'm not mistaken, the "Thai" bananas i saw in LA were grown in Guatemala.
    - stephenr 9y ago
      I haven't looked (literally the only thing I use them for is making smoothies when our Cavendish plants aren't producing) but I believe the "Thai" ones (or similar) are available in other SE Asian countries too, so it's possible they're very similar/the same thing. They look very similar (very much like 3rd from the left in https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Bananavarieties.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Bananava...) when peeled (apart from size - they're generally 1/2 or 1/3 the length of an average Cavendish and a little fatter, relative to length) but they're much 'juicier' and probably a little sweeter too. The taste itself isn't enough to put me off (see above about smoothies) but the texture is unbearable, it's like an over-ripe Cavendish. Edit: for some growing-bananas-in-thailand trivia: Here at least, the little horrible ones grow a lot faster and are much more durable than Cavendish. The tallest Cavendish plant we've had so far is maybe 2.5m tall - I can always grab the bunch when cutting them, and generally I can carry the bunch one handed. The "Thai" ones are giant plants by comparison - usually 4-5M when they produce, and the biggest bunches I can't carry at all. Then you have the giant Thai ones (the name translates as "Elephant banana") - the plant is as big as the regular Thai ones, but slower to produce fruit. The fruit itself are like a Cavendish on steroids - easily 2x the size, but horrible to eat, not even any good for smoothies. Even my in-laws don't know anyone who actually eats these ones. Then there's the even tinier Thai ones (the name translates as "Egg banana") which have a quite short, but very leafy plant (maybe 2-2.5M tall at most) with lots of offshoots. The fruit itself are tiny - most plants here the bunch never drops down to 'hang' because it's not heavy enough, and the bananas are, as the name suggests, comparable in size to a large chicken or duck egg, and almost egg shaped too. Thus concludes my tale.
- 8ytecoder 9y ago
  I grew up eating at least 10 different varieties of bananas. US is a banana desert in comparison - no variety or choice. US multinational corporations via their Latin American banana farms control much of the trade.

ctchocula 9y ago

That was my thinking as well. Here's an article from 2005 [1]. I remember hearing about it in the early 2000s. [1] https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-06/can-fruit-be-saved https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2008-06/can-fruit-be-...

ChuckMcM 9y ago

I was going to mention this as well. I've wondered over the years who benefits from scaring people into believing bananas are going to all go away.

InclinedPlane 9y ago

I hear suits are making a comeback.