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submitted 5 days ago by mmmm@sopuli.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 37 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Cheap

Except when some genius at your local Walmart changes the price from $0.87/pound to $1.56/banana.

My store went from number 1 in sales of bananas in the country to dead last in just under a week because whoever set the prices was an idiot.

Also genetic diversity is in the crapper. One epidemic and we won't have bananas anymore.

[-] notnotmike@programming.dev 17 points 5 days ago

number 1 in sales of bananas in the country

Why do you know that data

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 27 points 5 days ago

Because I worked there, in the department that handled bananas.

[-] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago

Literally a professional banana handler.

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Wow, we have Banana Man here

^(I'm^ ^not^ ^assuming^ ^his^ ^gender,^ ^the^ ^profile^ ^says^ ^he's^ ^male)^

[-] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 8 points 5 days ago

Well.

We wont have bananas that taste any good. The ones we eat are selectively bred to become seedless, and are thereby infertile, and must be cloned to be propagated.

The species would still exist, but we'd have to start over with developing a plant that produces something edible.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 11 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I would love to try two different bananas I have only ever read about:

The one that supposedly tastes like vanilla pudding
The one that no longer exists where banana flavoured candy derives its flavor from.

Unlike that artificial strawberry flavor that sucks compared to actual strawberries, I quite like the artificial banana flavor of candy over an actual banana (which, to me, barely has a flavor at all).

[-] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 9 points 5 days ago

The one that no longer exists where banana flavoured candy derives its flavor from.

That's actually a myth. See Wikipedia.

The Gros Michel has a higher concentration of isoamyl acetate, the ester commonly used for "banana" food flavoring, than the Cavendish.[12] This higher concentration is responsible for the myth that banana flavoring was based on the Gros Michel, but artificial banana flavor was not based on any specific cultivar.

Here's a longer piece on just that subject.

[-] XiELEd@piefed.social 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

We wont have bananas that taste any good.

Cavendish bananas aren't the only varieties of bananas that taste good. For example Lakatan and Latundan taste good raw. It's just that most of the time they aren't feasible for export.

[-] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 6 points 5 days ago

It's just that most of the time they aren't feasible for export.

I didn't know that.

Maybe it would be more accurate to say we won't have an edible banana that is suitable for large-scale industrial production.

[-] XiELEd@piefed.social 6 points 5 days ago

One epidemic and we won’t have bananas anymore.

Only for a few countries ;) There's still a lot of banana varieties eaten around the world.

[-] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago

There are a lot of types though. Walmart may not have them, but my little 4 meter by 3 meter patch has several varieties and produces enough bananas for about 4 families.

So someone will still have bananas.