Comments on: Read This Book

By: Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Banana Sampler

Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Banana Sampler — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:11:40 +0000

[...] Now that I know that a banana doesn’t need to be a Cavendish, I decided to branch out the last time I was at the grocery store and give some of the lesser appreciated bananas a taste. [...]

By: tanya

tanya — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:51:45 +0000

Excellent review! I really enjoyed reading your post.
I’ve always loved eating bananas, so I guess it makes perfect sense to just go find the book…

By: jwsharrard

jwsharrard — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 22:46:42 +0000

I’m somewhat more optimistic that perhaps the banana companies will rethink how they grow their fruits and we’ll see instead a wider variety of bananas available on the market, which could be a good thing.

On the other hand, with the history behind their product that they have, the banana companies don’t really seem to be the sorts of folks who are interested in sustainable agriculture; the gist of the story is that they will do whatever it takes to grow a reliable product cheaply, human and environmental costs be damned, so perhaps my optimism is misplaced.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 22:30:09 +0000

I’m not saying reading about a good book is bad. I’m saying the banana as we know will be gone is bad.

By: jwsharrard

jwsharrard — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 23:16:15 +0000

Jo–what’s so bad about finding out about a book you should read? You spend so much time on airplanes, you’d might as well make use of it to do something other than catch up on celebrity gossip….

By: Xerxes1729

Xerxes1729 — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:30:36 +0000

I’m not an expert, or even particularly knowledgeable on the subject, but there’s more to genetics than genes. The cells in your intestines have the exact same genes as the cells in your brain, but the cells are very different. This difference comes from the fact that even though the cells have the same genes, they don’t necessarily use, or “express”, the same ones. Maybe neurons express genes A and B, and intestinal cells express genes B and C. Obviously, it’s a lot more complicated, but that’s the gist of it.

In terms of bananas, maybe the cavendish expresses more of the enzyme that converts starch into sugar, or something like that.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:45:35 +0000

Someone in the office was just talking about this. Hearing it from 2 different sources so close together, i guess i have to believe this is true. Damn.