2022-11-10
39 分钟The banana, once a luxury good, rose to become America’s favorite fruit. Now a deadly fungus threatens to wipe it out. Can it be saved?
Hey, there, it's Stephen Dubner today on the show, one of our very most favorite episodes from the archive.
It's called the most interesting fruit in the world.
If you remember it, I think you will like hearing it again.
If you have never heard it, you are in for a treat.
This episode first ran in 2019.
We have updated facts and figures where relevant.
Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week with a new episode.
In 1876, the city of Philadelphia commemorated 100 years of american independence with a centennial exposition.
Well, it was a big trade fair.
It was like a world's fair.
And there was a horticultural exhibit, and they had a banana plant with bananas growing on it.
That's Virginia Scott Jenkins.
She's a cultural historian and the author of Bananas an American History.
And they had to put a guard on it because people wanted to, you know, pick a leaf or poke at it because people hadn't seen one of.
These things, the banana plant.
And, yes, it's a plant, technically not a tree, and the banana is technically a berry anyway.
This banana plant had stiff competition for attention at the Centennial Expo.
Also on display were the right arm and flame of the Statue of Liberty, which hadn't yet been erected in New York harbor, there were the first public demonstrations of the typewriter and of Alexander Graham Bell's telephone and an appearance by the president of the United States, Ulysses S.
Grant.
Still, the humble banana plant caused a stir.