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> We’re eating today the same bananas as our grandparents were eating in the 1950s. No, we're not. Back in the 1950s our grandparents were eating Gros Michel

> We’re eating today the same bananas as our grandparents were eating in the 1950s. No, we're not. Back in the 1950s our grandparents were eating Gros Michel bananas. Now, we're eating (by all accounts) inferior Cavendish bananas. https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/history-of-the-gros-michel-banana https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/history-of-the-gros-m...

hinkley 2y ago
But the reasons we are eating these two bananas is that their skin colors align with the ripeness of the fruit in a way that the human brain thinks makes sense. And because we are monocropping, the same family of fungi are now successfully attacking the Cavendish that took out the Gros Michel. All the other species of bananas tend to turn brown almost immediately after or around the time they are fully ripe, and that makes them less commercially viable. So I would say that these gene splices are less interesting for the Cavendish directly and more interesting for bringing genetic diversity into the produce isle. We could have five kinds of banana like we have five kinds of pears. Which indirectly helps the Cavendish by slowing down the doom clock on banana plantations.
- lo_zamoyski 2y ago
  > in a way that the human brain thinks makes sense. Side note: Let us avoid pseudoscientific and pseudophilosophical language like this bit. It is suggestive of the homunculus fallacy, it misconstrues the nature of perception, and ignores the role of habit and cultural influences. It's also artificial, stylistically stodgy, and comes off as pretentious in a gauche, pop sci kind of way.
  - hinkley 2y ago
    You can have all the idealism you want in a place where farmers aren't bankrupted by not supplying what the market demands. The market demands bananas that are not brown when they are ripe.
    - hulitu 2y ago
      > in a place where farmers aren't bankrupted by not supplying what the market demands. Farmers ? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company
  - pseudosaid 2y ago
    okay semantic santa thank you for gifting us this trite side note. the message was clear and makes sense and youre disregarding that to elevate your preferred modus of communication. do you eat the chaff with your wheat? its almost as if the roles of habit and cultur influence the way that a human brain makes sense of its stimulus.
dostick 2y ago
Exactly, who doesn’t know this fact, which is one of first things you learn about selection in consumed plants. And especially Guardian journalist specialising in this topic.

hinkley 2y ago

But the reasons we are eating these two bananas is that their skin colors align with the ripeness of the fruit in a way that the human brain thinks makes sense. And because we are monocropping, the same family of fungi are now successfully attacking the Cavendish that took out the Gros Michel. All the other species of bananas tend to turn brown almost immediately after or around the time they are fully ripe, and that makes them less commercially viable. So I would say that these gene splices are less interesting for the Cavendish directly and more interesting for bringing genetic diversity into the produce isle. We could have five kinds of banana like we have five kinds of pears. Which indirectly helps the Cavendish by slowing down the doom clock on banana plantations.

lo_zamoyski 2y ago
> in a way that the human brain thinks makes sense. Side note: Let us avoid pseudoscientific and pseudophilosophical language like this bit. It is suggestive of the homunculus fallacy, it misconstrues the nature of perception, and ignores the role of habit and cultural influences. It's also artificial, stylistically stodgy, and comes off as pretentious in a gauche, pop sci kind of way.
- hinkley 2y ago
  You can have all the idealism you want in a place where farmers aren't bankrupted by not supplying what the market demands. The market demands bananas that are not brown when they are ripe.
  - hulitu 2y ago
    > in a place where farmers aren't bankrupted by not supplying what the market demands. Farmers ? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company
- pseudosaid 2y ago
  okay semantic santa thank you for gifting us this trite side note. the message was clear and makes sense and youre disregarding that to elevate your preferred modus of communication. do you eat the chaff with your wheat? its almost as if the roles of habit and cultur influence the way that a human brain makes sense of its stimulus.

dostick 2y ago

Exactly, who doesn’t know this fact, which is one of first things you learn about selection in consumed plants. And especially Guardian journalist specialising in this topic.