Would you eat a genectically modified bananna?

[Geezer38]

I read today in Popular Science that the bananna that we all buy in the supermarkets, all over the world, is one variety; a Cavendish. It is in danger of extinction because of a disease and there are no good replacements in sight. Meanwhile, plant breeders are frantically working to find a disease-resistant substitute. It's slow work, the work of decades.

A geneticist in Brussells is heading an effort to engineer a replacement through gene manipulation. It's a much faster process. If he is successful, would you eat them?

[Zan de Man]

In the circumstances, yes. I'm aware of the problem. It would be a dull world without bananas.

[Geezer38]

I posted this because I also read of a recent survey of British shoppers which revealed that 82% would not buy a GM banana even if proven to be safe. Apparently, they are not alone, resistance to GM foods runs deep among the worlds consumers with most GM foods being banned in Europe. I'm curious why.

The prospect of no more fruit-variety bananas in my diet is a painful but fairly trivial matter. I can eat apples. However, food-variety bananas are a dietary staple in much of Africa and south Asia because they are easy and cheap to grow while providing a nutritious diet. The real thrust of the Belgium research is to provide a disease and fungus resistant food-variety strain for the tropical poor.

The real question is how will we ever convince the poor and uneducated of the value of GM foods if we can't sell the idea to the wealthy and sophisticated of the world?

[Fredfredson]

The real question is how will we ever convince the poor and uneducated of the value of GM foods if we can't sell the idea to the wealthy and sophisticated of the world?

If we could keep Monsanto and their buddies from ripping us off, and potentially doing serious harm to the food production system on the planet in the process, maybe we could convince people that GM doesn't mean bad.

Until then there is way too much money to be made by messing with the system to trust GM foods on principle.

The key thing to remember here is that most people don't want GM foods BECAUSE of Monsanto etal NOT because they thing that GM foods are necessarily harmful.

F
:pooter

[thaanatos]

wouldn't it depend on what it was modified INTO?

[Zan de Man]

And if it needed batteries.

[roseval]

anyone want to see pics of what my (annoying) children have now christened
"gay bananas"?

French and then Irish version of toasted banans with yes, chocolate sauce.
Don't know if there was any of thatther gementc mod stuff going on with them, but.

[Neko]

Sounds good. Have you ever tried bananas soaked in malibu and then barbequed?

[contracycle]

I posted this because I also read of a recent survey of British shoppers which revealed that 82% would not buy a GM banana even if proven to be safe. Apparently, they are not alone, resistance to GM foods runs deep among the worlds consumers with most GM foods being banned in Europe. I'm curious why.

Becuase of the unwillingness of their promoters to a) put proper safety standards in place, b) address the results of existing safety failures properly, c) clearly label GM foods - indeed, the US responded to an EU request for such labelling by saying that such might "prejudice" consumer decisions.... in other words, the consumer must be kept ignorant for fear they might exercise a choice.

All of these undermine the bona fides of GM foods, and thats without even addressing the fact that the technology is so fundamental that it should be treated with extreme caution, rather than rushed cavalierly to the market with insufficient safeguards.

[sarmajor]

I would be very much against modification of bananas as it would put the majority of Queenslanders out of a job unless, of course, legislation was enacted to ensure that the GM variety were not artificially bent.

I was born there and was a 'banana bender' for some 40 years until She Who Must be Obeyed (a West Australian) transformed me into a 'sandgroper'.

Despite not being a horticulturist I would dispute your comment that all bananas are of the Cavendish variety.

When I was an ankle biter we lived in Brisbane and had a single banana tree growing in our back yard. It was a Lady Finger and, although relatively small, it was the nicest variety of banana that I have ever tasted.

Quite frankly most bananas that are available here today are shit. They look great on the outside but, when peeled, they rapidly turn brown, have a black streak up the centre - and taste like wood.

I understand that is due to the gas injected to delay ripening during transporting to the consumer.

I have often wondered whether that is not counter productive. I would normally eat 3 or 4 times as many bananas (and other fruit) as I do - but an deterred by the shit that I know it will turn out to be.

Now and again I weaken and buy some more, only to find that it is the same old tasteless crap - and throw it away.

The bananas turn brown, the pears are rock hard and the stone fruit are like rocks when bought.

We are told to let it ripen but, it only goes soft when it decays and has to bethrown away. Where are the days when one felt like a piece of fruit, bought it and ate it on the spot.

The only fruit that I really enjoy are from a thin skinned navel orange tree growing in my backyard.......and a lemon tree which we use to make drinks and to sprinkle on fish. When the orange tree is bearing fruit (I have just eaten the last of this season) I make a guts of myself and eat three each night after I have finished posting here and head off to bed.

My grandmother, in Brisbane, used to have a huge mango tree and a very large plum tree which my brother and I gloried in climbing and stuffing ourselves with the fruit. At other houses in which I have lived there have been pawpaw (I think you Yanks call them Papias - or something similar), mandarin and custard apple trees, also grape vines and watermelon plants. The fruit from them all have been superb eating so the moral is to grow your own.,

Am I Robinson Crusoe or do others have the same problem nowadays with inedible purchased fruit?

[Geezer38]

"Despite not being a horticulturist I would dispute your comment that all bananas are of the Cavendish variety."

You are quite right, I didn't word that very well, what the article said was that the Cavendish is the only variety grown for commercial export. That's because it is a familar colour, size, and taste, ships well, doesn't ripen too quickly, and a whole lot of other reasons. There are hundreds of varieties, perhaps thousands, but the commercial growers have staked everything on this single variety and are now wringing their poor little hands about the corner they have painted themselves into.

The article mentioned the Ladyfinger variety as being the best tasting of the lot but this variety doesn't produce the volume of fruit per plant that they want for commercial growth.

I really don't care whether they go broke or not, I can eat some other fruit, but I was interested in the comments about antipathy of Europeans to GM foods and was curious why. I think several posters have explained it.

"Am I Robinson Crusoe or do others have the same problem nowadays with inedible purchased fruit?"

Nope! You are not alone! Several varieties of apples that I enjoyed years ago are no longer palatable, they are still red and beautiful, but they never ripen and give me a belly-ache! Peaches are another one, beautiful on the outside but black with rot on the inside. Many of the oranges we buy are dry and utterly tasteless. They market the look and not the taste.

[sir digalot]

if they looked, tasted, smelled, cooked, and in everyway were identicle to a steak, i would have no problem with them!

[sarmajor]

They market the look and not the taste.

Geezer...........you said it all in 8 little words

Most fruit here looks great...but tastes like shit.

Sorry - I will edit that as even shit has some flavour.

[RedCon1]

Sorry - I will edit that as even shit has some flavour.

You would know, wouldn't you? :rofl

[Fredfredson]

This is an interesting site:

Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2005 12:22:15 -0600
From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
Subject: Bringing cultural and culinary mainstays from the past into the new millennium

http://environment.nau.edu/publications/index.htm

Renewing America's Food Traditions

Bringing cultural and culinary mainstays from the past into the new millennium Edited by Gary Paul Nabhan and Ashley Rood

Have you ever eaten a meal rich with juices, flavors, and fragrances that have taken centuries to develop? A tender pear once planted in Thomas Jefferson’s orchards, an oily fish that built trade routes in the Northwest, a hot pepper that tells the story of Minorcan immigration to Florida—these are the stories of North American culinary traditions that lie hidden within our foods. And yet, many of these foods have been rapidly disappearing from our fields, fishing grounds and feasts. If these culinary delights persist only in our history books, we will have lost an important cultural legacy, and future generations will be deprived of the exquisite flavors found in these heritage foods.

Including the first ever Redlist of America’s Endangered Foods, this book will not only share the stories of these uniquely American foods, but also suggest how you can help save these food traditions. Here are twenty foods with twenty stories; stories of imperilment, as well as success stories of foods pulled from the brink of extinction. The Redlist is a working inventory of those plants and animals Alaska to Florida that demand our attention. Whether you live in New York City or Decorah, Iowa, you will be inspired to join the efforts to place these foods back on our tables.

[sarmajor]

Sorry - I will edit that as even shit has some flavour.

You would know, wouldn't you?

Yes Red...........I do now.

Previously I had always wondered just what that brown stuff was.

No problem now. Thanks to your posts (which are full of it) I can now recognise it for what it is.

Having said that I know of just the place where sticking a banana would do the most good.

It might even grow into a fine plant.... implanted in that natural fertiliser.

.

[RedCon1]

Yes Red...........I do now.


Of course you do "Aussie shit eater."

Previously I had always wondered just what that brown stuff was.

Evidentally, that didn't stop you from eating it copraphage.

Having said that I know of just the place where sticking a banana would do the most good.

In a pile of shit...for flavor? Right? Sounds like an Australian delicacy.

[infinite chaos]

They market the look and not the taste.

Unfortunately the buying public has as much blame as those who sell. Anyone who has ever been to countries where the real fruit grow know that
1 - The best Bananas are small, green and have marks on the outer skin. The average European supermarket sells big, perfectly yellow bananas that have no taste.
2 - Proper Oranges arenot even Orange, they also have slightly green skin and are smaller than the ones you find in the average hypermarket.
3 - Tomatoes.......... just ask any african to eat the type of tomatoe you find here in the west and to eat it raw...

I don't eat any of the above unless I am lucky enough to travel to source countries so to me GM makes no difference anyway.

[kat]

The best food is that you grow yourself and pluck off the plant. In a less ideal world people still want to know what they are eating is safe. I am not happy about GM food, but if I was hungry I don't think I would give a damn. I am not alarmist about it, but I wonder how much of this experimentation is necessary and do we know enough about the long term effects of messing about with the food chain.
kat.