Cropped screenshot of Carmen Miranda from the trailer for the film The Gang’s All Here (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Joséphine Baker: “Girdle of Bananas” 1926 Joséphine pictured in her most famous outfit – the legendary ‘girdle of bananas’. First seen in her debut revue at the Folies Bergère: La Folie du Jour, 1926-27, there were several variations of this costume over the years. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Gros Michel banana (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I chose the banana as the emblem of this website because it is iconic in so many ways:
- The common —the most popular fruit in the world;
- The political –banana wars, banana republics, the American Fruit Company;
- Entertainment —Carman Miranda / Josephine Baker;
- Breeding –bananas are clones;
- Biological Realities –Gros Michel variety that Miranda and Baker famously wore was wiped out by a fungus, and the Cavendish that we now consume is under threat from a mutated version of that fungus;
- Music —“Yes we have no bananas” was written when the shortage of Gros Michels arose due to fungal wipeout; and
- Biotechnology —prevent the extinction of the Cavendish. See: http://allafrica.com/stories/201303042315.html
- New Products — Brazil is commenced exporting the variety prats, which unlike the Cavendish does not oxidize quickly (http://www.freshfruitportal.com/brazil-aims-to-export-niche-banana-variety/)
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