Banana: A Global History

For over a century, the banana has been rumoured to be everybody’s favourite fruit. Quick and easy to eat, tasty and versatile in its culinary uses, the banana is a staple of many diets around the world. The banana’s history, however, is more than simply a succession of happy family scenes and the appeal of exotic locations. The growth and development of the fruit we know and love today is entangled with colonial practices, capitalist enterprise, sexual politics and even horrific murders. In this book, Lorna Piatti-Farnell delves into the long-standing history of the banana, and looks into the circumstances that have aligned to make this fruit one of the most popular foods on the planet. Banana: A Global History takes us from the agricultural beginnings of the banana in New Guinea, to the fruit’s almost ubiquitous presence in culinary repertoires around the globe.

Culture researcher Lorna Piatti-Farnell tells us about the quirky history of bananas on Studio 10