Koeppel explores the bananas history through the lens of its emergence into a global commodity and enterprise, eradicating most genetic bio diversities for a singular cloned crop which will ultimately be its downfall.
He spends most of his book discussing the Gros Michel, its extinction along with its replacement, the Cavendish. However the Cavendish makes up less than half of the bananas grown around the world. Similarly, the focus of the book is on the banana market created by companies like Chiquita and Dole but exports only account for 15% of global output. Banana producing nations consume the rest internally or sell it in their regional markets. While most of the discussion was centered on the Americas, 35% of the global yield comes from India and China.
He spends most of his book discussing the Gros Michel, its extinction along with its replacement, the Cavendish. However the Cavendish makes up less than half of the bananas grown around the world. Similarly, the focus of the book is on the banana market created by companies like Chiquita and Dole but exports only account for 15% of global output. Banana producing nations consume the rest internally or sell it in their regional markets. While most of the discussion was centered on the Americas, 35% of the global yield comes from India and China.
It makes sense though that the focus was spent here as it made for a more interesting reading to focus on the part of the history of the banana that turned sinister in the domain of exports to American markets. The bright side of the bananas existence that is occasionally intertwined in his writing is what is keeping entire nations from starvation, preventing civil unrest and bringing prosperity to those nations versus non banana producing ones.
In proving his thesis, Koeppel particularizes on the predictability of the Gros Michel and later the Cavendish which makes it the perfect commodity: it has virtually no variations in size and shape, no seeds, more production of fruit per plant than other varieties, a tough exterior and longer time to ripen. This is what allowed for enterprises to profit from them as they were able to find ways to control the variables: shipping methods and routes, timelines by incorporating refrigeration to prolong ripening, all done in a very large scale through the exploitation of cheap labor and land in underdeveloped countries.
Although the tone of his book is on the extinction of the banana, it should be noted that it is the banana as we know it, the Cavendish, which is at risk. In fact some varieties, like the Musa velutina are much softer and sweeter than Cavendishes yet lack the predictability that would make it a commercial success. The Panama disease which is the cause for this mass eradication is mostly a threat to the cloned bananas as it makes them incredibly susceptible to disease because an infection can learn how to destroy one banana and destroy all their clones. Through this disruption caused by the Panama disease, enterprise had to continuously adjust in favor of their profits, leaving behind devastation in forests and entire nations at the expense of people and heritage through cheap labor, callous treatment and subpar working conditions. Despite his detailed depictions of civil unrest, casualties and destruction he seems to find a good balance between both sides and generally remain impartial through the narrating of the facts.
The book is recounted from the author’s own perspective by portraying the facts in a sort of ‘this is what happened’ way but brings occasionally his own experiences to complement the topic being discussed. In that sense there are no key perspectives left out through this factual recount. His informative study expanded from an article originally published in Popular Science which may explain why Koeppel jumps around a lot as he discusses the different topics and crams a lot of information into brief chapters.
In proving his thesis, Koeppel particularizes on the predictability of the Gros Michel and later the Cavendish which makes it the perfect commodity: it has virtually no variations in size and shape, no seeds, more production of fruit per plant than other varieties, a tough exterior and longer time to ripen. This is what allowed for enterprises to profit from them as they were able to find ways to control the variables: shipping methods and routes, timelines by incorporating refrigeration to prolong ripening, all done in a very large scale through the exploitation of cheap labor and land in underdeveloped countries.
Although the tone of his book is on the extinction of the banana, it should be noted that it is the banana as we know it, the Cavendish, which is at risk. In fact some varieties, like the Musa velutina are much softer and sweeter than Cavendishes yet lack the predictability that would make it a commercial success. The Panama disease which is the cause for this mass eradication is mostly a threat to the cloned bananas as it makes them incredibly susceptible to disease because an infection can learn how to destroy one banana and destroy all their clones. Through this disruption caused by the Panama disease, enterprise had to continuously adjust in favor of their profits, leaving behind devastation in forests and entire nations at the expense of people and heritage through cheap labor, callous treatment and subpar working conditions. Despite his detailed depictions of civil unrest, casualties and destruction he seems to find a good balance between both sides and generally remain impartial through the narrating of the facts.
The book is recounted from the author’s own perspective by portraying the facts in a sort of ‘this is what happened’ way but brings occasionally his own experiences to complement the topic being discussed. In that sense there are no key perspectives left out through this factual recount. His informative study expanded from an article originally published in Popular Science which may explain why Koeppel jumps around a lot as he discusses the different topics and crams a lot of information into brief chapters.