Bananas to be endangered?

[loofah]

There is a soil fungus that is wiping out the Cavendish bananas around the world. The Cavendish make up 99% of all banana exports and is most commonly seen at markets. It's expected to hit the Central Americas soon which is where we in the US get much of our banana crop. Bananas are somewhat of a staple for me and I can imagine the same goes for many of you. I just don't know what I'd do without my bananas! probably go...bananas :eek:

Anyway, all we can do is hope for the best at this point.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/10/110110fa_fact_peed?mbid=social_release

[walnutty]

Oh no! I need my bananas!

[nadien alexandra]

what about these smaller, more nutrient dense bananas that are apparently suppose to replace the yellow guys?
someone told me that they are superior and that they will satisfy all our banana needs when the yellow ones disappear.
they taste quite the same. little differences. i like em

[Green_Woman]

Awww... Cavendish is my ex-fiance's middle name. What a lovely man, that man. I wonder if the bananas are named after his great-great-Uncle, who had some sort of plantation deal going on back in the 1800's...

[sport]

I expect that if one variety goes then the price of the rest will shoot up so we loose anyway.

[bananarama]

what about these smaller, more nutrient dense bananas that are apparently suppose to replace the yellow guys?
someone told me that they are superior and that they will satisfy all our banana needs when the yellow ones disappear.
they taste quite the same. little differences. i like em
anything being mass-grown for mass-sale is highly suseptable to a great degree of hybridization, so yeah, the cavendish bananas we have now are likely a lot less nutritious than their ancestors. but there are around 500 different varieties of avocadoes, most of which we in the North have never seen (I personally have only ever eaten 2), and I'm sure that the same thing holds true for bananas. we should start trying to get different types of bananas. personally, I love the little fingerling bananas (esp. the purple ones!)

[magglepie]

geez, if there were no more bananas I would go nuts! They are a staple food for me :(