Bananas – Why do they all look alike?
Common Bananas are all genetically same because they come from trees that have been cloned for decades. The variety we get at stores are called “Cavendish” variety. United Fruit Corporation in 1950 chose this variety to best serve their profits and train consumers to expect all bananas to look alike. Another sad thing is that Cavendish bananas are never allowed to reproduce. I hate to accept this fact but we left with no choices.
I visited India in Nov 2014. I visited an agriculture event, AGRI INTEX in Coimbatore. It was different from the one’s I have attended here in states. Just on bananas, I saw more than 100 varieties. I have some pictures from there.
Eventually, US will slowly kill some of the other vegetables and fruit varieties, so that we will all know one type of fruit in the future. No confusion, right! Welcome to Genetic Engineering application in real world.
iThottam 