Omnivore (2024) s01e04 Episode Script
Banana
[Redzepi] It wasn't until I was nearly
40 that I truly tasted a banana.
A plátano manzano, an apple banana
from a market in Tabasco, Mexico.
The first bite was a revelation.
Creamy like soft toffee, but with a
freshness like a wild Danish apple.
Mind-blowing.
Up until that point,
I never really thought of banana
as an ingredient to cook with.
But one bite of that plátano
manzano changed that.
How about you?
How many different bananas
have you tasted in your life?
Have you ever tasted the
tangy pink Musa velutina?
Or the starchy, sweet
Fe'i of French Polynesia?
There's the Blue Java with its whisper
of vanilla ice cream on the finish.
Burro bananas, red bananas,
Rhino Horn, Musa Belle,
Lady Fingers, Mona Lisa,
Orinoco, Goldfinger, Sweetheart.
There are more than 1,500
varieties of banana.
Yet most of us have
only tasted one:
Musa cavendishii, the Cavendish.
The banana behind nearly
99% of the world's exports.
How did that happen?
This is a story of two
recipes for banana.
One engineered by us,
that traveled the world,
fueled the free market and
redrew the geopolitical map.
The other that
stayed close to home,
with varieties as wild and
unpredictable as the weather.
Both recipes tell the story of the
most popular fruit on the planet.
One that reveals as much
about modern human society
and our relationship with Mother
Nature as any ingredient on earth.
Because the truth, when you
peel back the banana's history,
is almost too wild to believe.
[birds chirping]
[crowd chattering]
[in Malayalam] 60 rupees,
60 rupees, 60 rupees.
270.130, 130.
200 rupees. 150, 60, 70, 80.180.
[Redzepi, in English]
Bananas are thought to be
one of the world's first
domesticated fruits.
Ancient Buddhist texts place them
in India as far back as 500 BC,
where Hindus call them,
"the fruit of the wise men."
Today, India grows nearly a
quarter of the world's bananas.
Here, the fruit is an essential
ingredient of daily life.
A divine offering in
religious ceremonies.
An auspicious
decoration for weddings.
And a staple of most meals.
Dozens of varieties
of every size,
shape, color and flavor
serve a specific
culinary purpose.
But nowhere is banana diversity
celebrated more magnificently
than in the southwest
region of Kerala.
Here, Vinod Nair has dedicated his
life to fighting for the humble fruit.
Over the past 30 years, he's
created a veritable Garden of Eden,
one of the largest and rarest private
banana collections in the world.
[Vinod, in Malayalam] I have collected
around 520 varieties of bananas.
The groups in Kerala who were responsible
for protecting banana varieties
did not do their job.
[speaks Malayalam]
[Vinod] This made me
want to take action.
That is how I ended up
collecting so many varieties.
[Abaneesh] We had little
support when we first started.
And people think it's unusual
that I'm helping my father.
I have a master's
degree in engineering.
So, they assumed I
was crazy as well.
But we are doing something that
no one else in the world is doing.
[Vinod] Farmers often avoid
cultivating banana varieties that
yield smaller clusters of fruit
because their primary motivation
is to generate profit.
I do things differently.
Wherever there is
banana, I will be there.
[Redzepi, in English] For
Vinod and his son Abaneesh,
every day is centered
around the banana.
They're not alone.
Communities across the world
have been built around the fruit.
[Elizabeth, in Spanish] I started working
with bananas when I was 15 years old.
All my life has been here
in the Zona Bananera.
We all depend on bananas.
Kids, I love you. Take
care of yourselves.
[engine starts]
Bye!
We, the cleaners, take the
bunches and do the clusters.
There are clusters of four,
six, seven, and eight.
The crown must be very square
because what is sold
is only the look.
As the saying goes, you have to put
makeup on the banana for it to be bought.
I can't tell you how
many clusters I clean.
A lot. More than 3,000 a day.
Every pallet carries
between 48 and 56 boxes.
Each box carries from
17 to 20 clusters.
It's a huge amount.
[Redzepi, in English] Plantations,
like this one in Colombia,
grow exclusively one
banana, the Cavendish.
The one we all know and love.
The Cavendish has
been there for me
in more times and in more
places than I can count:
on a grueling ferry to Germany,
an endless flight to Australia,
after countless workouts and
hikes and long bike rides.
I've seen them in every airport
and convenience store in the world.
I've had banana
sliced over pancakes,
dipped in chocolate,
flambéed with booze, washed
down with a hot cup of coffee.
We keep our kitchen at noma stocked at
all times with a mountain of bananas.
Without the Cavendish,
I'm not sure we'd get through
prep for dinner service.
And I'm sure it's been
there for you too.
But with so many different
kinds of banana in the world,
how did this one variety come
to dominate Latin America,
our grocery stores
and our cereal bowls?
The recipe for banana dominance
begins with one special ingredient,
a man named Minor Cooper Keith.
[ship horn blows]
In 1871, Minor Keith set out to
Costa Rica to find his fortune.
This was the era of the
Rockefellers and Vanderbilts,
Manifest Destiny, the Gold Rush.
A time when western entrepreneurs believed
the world was theirs for the taking.
His plan?
To build a railroad from
San José to the Caribbean
and export Costa Rica's
rich natural resources.
All Keith had to do
was the impossible.
Lay 200 kilometers of train tracks through
one of the densest jungles in the world.
For the next 20 years, he
waged a war with nature.
As his workers toiled
in the hot sun,
Keith looked for a
cheap way to feed them.
He turned to a
strange local fruit
that was tasty, nutritious
and easy to grow.
Bananas.
All told, more than 5,000 people died
building the Costa Rican railroad.
But planted along those tracks
was the foundation of
Keith's future banana empire.
In India, it's said that if you grow
bananas, you will never go hungry.
[farmers chattering]
[Abaneesh, in Malayalam]
The banana tree is unique
in that all parts
of it are edible.
Every part of the banana tree is
useful, from its leaves to its roots.
[grunts]
Now cut the stem.
- Don't forget to clean it.
- [speaks Malayalam]
[mutters]
[Redzepi, in English] Bananas
in this part of the world
aren't just for
quick, easy snacking.
They're used as an ingredient in
an incredible variety of recipes.
Spices bloomed in
clarified butter,
dried chilies,
curry leaves.
These types of bold flavors aren't
ones I normally associated with banana.
Even the flower,
I had no idea that you could
transform a banana flower
the way cooks do here.
Pickled stems,
shredded peels,
leaves used both for
cooking and for serving.
Every part of the banana
has a place in the kitchen.
In the magic hands of
local cooks like Vijaya,
India's abundance of bananas
can be transformed into
flavors and textures
many of us never thought
possible with the fruit.
But even here, in a world
of dizzying diversity,
India's commercial
banana farmers
are focusing on the more
profitable export-friendly bananas,
like the high-yielding,
slow-ripening Cavendish.
This makes the work done by the father
and son team all the more vital.
With their collection,
Vinod and Abaneesh
are among the last lines of
defense against a one-banana world.
[Abaneesh, in Malayalam] Because
we cultivate a lot of varieties,
the maintenance required
for each variety is unique.
Each variety requires
individual attention.
The workload is quite heavy.
Right now, I am doing
all the work alone.
My father had a heart
issue two months back
and had to undergo surgery.
And if I were to leave,
there would be no one to tend to
the farm and care for my father.
So, that leaves me with no
option except to stay here.
[Vinod] There is a possibility that
my son may choose a different path.
How can I predict the future?
This is considered an offering.
We do it for a good future.
I pray for my father's good health
and a prosperous future for myself.
The world in front
of me is huge.
I have the opportunity to take
a different path if I so desire.
But I'm more concerned
about what will happen next.
[Redzepi, in English] Though
bananas have been central
to India's existence
for millennia
[presenter 1] Where
do bananas come from?
back in Minor Keith's day,
most of the Western world
had never laid eyes on one.
[presenter 2] The captain
of the ship had to explain
how to peel these strange fruit.
Even then, some of the kids didn't
seem to know how to eat them.
[Redzepi] How do you
take a tropical fruit,
that most people had
never seen before,
and turn it into a staple
of the global diet?
By unleashing the kind of marketing
campaign the world had never seen.
One that rippled through
Western culture for decades.
[presenter 3] If you
feel it, peel it.
[Redzepi] And is still
being felt today.
Huh? Banana?
Hey, what the
[Redzepi] Minor Keith's business,
the United Fruit Company,
flooded the market with
newspaper ads, radio jingles,
even a book called The
Food Value of the Banana.
New recipes were invented.
Pamphlets were handed out in classrooms
touting their nutritional benefits.
They turned to doctors,
celebrities and, of course,
a little anthropomorphized
banana to get the message out.
I'm Chiquita banana
And I've come to say ♪
Bananas have to ripen
in a certain way ♪
[Redzepi] The result?
Bananas went from an
obscure jungle fruit
to one of the most popular
items in the Western pantry
in a matter of a few years.
[presenter 4] Bananas are a favorite
breakfast fruit in every home.
[Redzepi] The United Fruit
Company didn't follow the recipe.
They wrote it.
They controlled every
piece of the production,
the land, the workers, the
transportation, the marketing and sales.
They centered their business
around just one variety of banana
to maximize productivity
and keep costs low.
This ushered in a radical new
era in industrialized food.
One that forever changed
how food is grown and sold.
It's one of the reasons
why a fresh banana
can be shipped halfway around the
world to my kitchen in Copenhagen
for a quarter of the cost of
an apple grown down the road.
And as business boomed
for United Fruit,
bananas became vital
to the economies
and daily lives of
millions in Latin America.
[Elizabeth, in Spanish] My whole
family has worked with bananas.
I learned to do this
because of them.
I really like to
cook with bananas.
My eldest son loves stuffed
and regular fried plantains.
With the peel, I
make a delicious jam.
I don't waste anything.
Imagine what someone has
to do with this fruit.
Someone has to remove
the little leaves.
Someone has to clean this plant.
In other words, this plant is
practically someone's child.
I say, "My God, this
banana is beautiful."
Why? Because here, we
do things with love.
None of my children want to
work in the banana field.
It's a tough job.
All jobs are hard.
No job is easy.
If they don't want
to work with bananas
and want to pursue a
career other than bananas,
well, I ask God for a
good life and health.
Because 95% of people in this
area work with the banana.
[child] The food is delicious.
[people chattering]
[Elizabeth] Thank the Lord.
Food is sacred. [Chuckles]
We depend on them for
practically everything.
[Elizabeth] When
you see a banana,
you must realize that behind this
banana there are several families.
[speaking Spanish]
Next time, you already
know what you have to cook.
And if I get tired?
I cook.
- Oh no! It's your turn.
- [child 2] Mm-hmm.
[Elizabeth] It wasn't
just one person.
An entire family did it
because their entire family
depends on that person.
Bananas are everything.
[Redzepi, in English] As the
world was gobbling up bananas,
the Americans in charge of United
Fruit continued to buy up land
and expand production
across Latin America.
The company became so
successful and so powerful
that they redrew the geopolitical
map of the 20th century.
Where do you think the name
banana republic came from?
[chorus] Oh!
[Redzepi] Indigenous
farmers, labor uprisings,
disagreeable politicians.
If there were any obstacle they
couldn't handle themselves,
the United Fruit Company
just called on its friends
in the US government to
protect its interests.
[marching footsteps]
One of the best or
worst examples of this,
1950s Guatemala.
Democratically elected
President Jacobo Árbenz,
looks to reclaim the land and resources
commandeered by the United Fruit Company
- and return it to the people.
- [protesters clamoring]
United Fruit uses its
well-oiled propaganda machine,
the same one that made Chiquita
Banana a household name,
to paint Árbenz as
a Communist threat.
It doesn't take long
before the US government
orchestrates a coup to
overthrow President Árbenz.
[crowd clamoring]
The country descends into decades
of civil war and economic collapse,
all for bananas.
Throughout the 20th century,
the United Fruit
Company positions itself
as the center of a proxy
war against Communism.
I think I understand something of what
this part of the world means to us.
The Kremlin must hate bananas.
[Redzepi] The messaging was so successful
that bananas became a powerful symbol
of America's most
exportable belief system,
unfettered capitalism.
It's crazy to think that a
fruit could be behind all this.
I didn't believe it myself.
But the scary truth is
that this is just a taste
of what the banana did
to change the world.
Where did that leave the countries
whose survival depended on bananas?
Where does it leave them today?
[reporter 1] A killer fungus is
destroying millions of bananas
[reporter 2] Officials in
Colombia confirm a fungus
that decimated banana plantations in
Asia and Australia is now there
[reporter 3] The world's
most popular banana
may be on the verge
of extinction.
[reporter 4] Bananas, as
we know it, may vanish.
[Redzepi] Fusarium is a lethal
fungus for the banana plant.
It lives in the soil,
infecting the roots
and choking the plant
of water and nutrients.
For years, the fungus was
a problem largely contained
to the eastern
part of the world,
chewing through millions of acres
of soil and billions of bananas.
But in 2019,
the first case in Latin America was
detected right here in Colombia,
prompting the government to declare a
state of emergency across the nation.
This is the danger of
building an entire industry
around a single
variety of banana.
With every Cavendish plant
being genetically identical,
the disease spreads rapidly,
wiping out entire plantations.
Worse still, the fungus
contaminates the soil for decades.
Right now, the only thing to
do is to mitigate the spread.
[worker, in Spanish] I work
here in the quarantine area.
An area that is now
affected by fusarium.
I dedicate myself to
my day-to-day work.
If I have to cut, I cut.
If I have to trim, I trim.
If I have to clean
the weeds, I do it.
To treat fusarium,
a person does not need to have
studied, read, or be intelligent.
What one needs is discipline.
Discipline and sanity.
I work here with four
other colleagues.
We haven't been to the main
facility for two years.
Because if we go in and out,
it will spread everywhere.
We are fighting against
something that
it's like throwing
stones into the wind.
Pass me my food.
[all laughing]
[farmer] Every day the same.
Every day.
[Alfonso] I was so fed up with bananas
that I took out the chicken comb to thaw,
and when I saw the cat outside
with it, I said, "son of a"
[all laughing]
Damn bananas, they're
drier than my face.
[laughs]
What do you aspire
to be in the future?
What would be your dream?
[farmer] Being a footballer.
- Hmm?
- [farmer] Play football.
Play football?
And you?
Gutierrez?
Be the Colombian Messi.
Hmm? Play football.
And you, Leonidas?
When I was a kid, I wanted
to be in the military.
Me, in the future I want
God to help me become mayor
of the Zona Bananera to try to fix
the situation in the Zona Bananera
so that there would be more
that there would
be more resources.
To fight the disease.
If it spreads,
the company will end
up closing the farm.
And what are we going to bring
home? What will our children eat?
My God.
Well, guys, let's go.
It's been long enough.
[Redzepi, in English] This banana pandemic
is not simply a recipe gone wrong.
It's what happens when you have
a streamlined one-banana system.
And the worst part is,
it's happened before.
Remember the banana we
saw in every commercial
[cartoon character singing]
United Fruit Company
ad, and vintage recipe?
Well, that banana doesn't
really exist anymore.
It was called the Gros Michel.
And it was the original banana.
The one that made the world fall
in love with this exotic fruit.
That is until the 1950s, when
an earlier strain of fusarium
spawned a pandemic that pushed
it to the edge of extinction.
But United Fruit Company
and the other banana barons
weren't going to let Mother
Nature get in the way.
They'd been searching for
a replacement for years.
One that covered all the
flaws of the Gros Michel.
And they found it in a safer, sturdier,
blander banana: the Cavendish.
New plantations were
erected overnight,
and the rest of us barely
noticed the near disaster.
Now, with fusarium emerging
with a taste for Cavendish,
scientists are once again
racing to develop a solution.
And as more farmers
grow Cavendish,
it's a race against the clock and
this one banana's grip on the world.
Because the irony is,
to save the banana industry,
we need other bananas.
Lots of them.
The key to saving the
Cavendish from fusarium
most likely lies
within the seeds
of one of the 1,500 other varieties
scattered around the globe.
But we can only hope to find the
solution if these bananas survive.
[Vinod, in Malayalam]
I am 62 years old,
and I am uncertain how
much time I have left.
So, to make sure that
the varieties of bananas
I have cultivated will
survive and thrive
I am establishing
"banana villages."
We've selected 200-300
houses in certain villages
and are providing them
with a variety of bananas.
Over time, these households will
share their produce with villagers,
and these banana varieties
will grow far and wide.
[Abaneesh] I learned
everything from my father.
He is my only
support, and I am his.
My father devoted his
entire life, health,
and financial resources
to banana farming.
As his son, it is my
responsibility to protect his farm
and uphold his legacy.
I want to ensure that these varieties
are preserved for the next generation.
[Redzepi, in English] If we want
all bananas to look and taste
and cost the same,
then will we ever stop
fighting fusarium?
And is it a fight
we want to pick?
Because Mother Nature will win.
But if we're okay with our
bananas being short and fat,
long and spotted,
sometimes green
or pink or black,
acidic, sweet or savory.
If we don't mind bananas
being cheap for some,
expensive for others,
then there is
another way forward.
If we combine the best
practices of the banana industry
with the best efforts of champions of
diversity, like Vinod and Abaneesh,
then maybe there's a brighter,
more delicious, more diverse future
for the world's
most popular fruit.
40 that I truly tasted a banana.
A plátano manzano, an apple banana
from a market in Tabasco, Mexico.
The first bite was a revelation.
Creamy like soft toffee, but with a
freshness like a wild Danish apple.
Mind-blowing.
Up until that point,
I never really thought of banana
as an ingredient to cook with.
But one bite of that plátano
manzano changed that.
How about you?
How many different bananas
have you tasted in your life?
Have you ever tasted the
tangy pink Musa velutina?
Or the starchy, sweet
Fe'i of French Polynesia?
There's the Blue Java with its whisper
of vanilla ice cream on the finish.
Burro bananas, red bananas,
Rhino Horn, Musa Belle,
Lady Fingers, Mona Lisa,
Orinoco, Goldfinger, Sweetheart.
There are more than 1,500
varieties of banana.
Yet most of us have
only tasted one:
Musa cavendishii, the Cavendish.
The banana behind nearly
99% of the world's exports.
How did that happen?
This is a story of two
recipes for banana.
One engineered by us,
that traveled the world,
fueled the free market and
redrew the geopolitical map.
The other that
stayed close to home,
with varieties as wild and
unpredictable as the weather.
Both recipes tell the story of the
most popular fruit on the planet.
One that reveals as much
about modern human society
and our relationship with Mother
Nature as any ingredient on earth.
Because the truth, when you
peel back the banana's history,
is almost too wild to believe.
[birds chirping]
[crowd chattering]
[in Malayalam] 60 rupees,
60 rupees, 60 rupees.
270.130, 130.
200 rupees. 150, 60, 70, 80.180.
[Redzepi, in English]
Bananas are thought to be
one of the world's first
domesticated fruits.
Ancient Buddhist texts place them
in India as far back as 500 BC,
where Hindus call them,
"the fruit of the wise men."
Today, India grows nearly a
quarter of the world's bananas.
Here, the fruit is an essential
ingredient of daily life.
A divine offering in
religious ceremonies.
An auspicious
decoration for weddings.
And a staple of most meals.
Dozens of varieties
of every size,
shape, color and flavor
serve a specific
culinary purpose.
But nowhere is banana diversity
celebrated more magnificently
than in the southwest
region of Kerala.
Here, Vinod Nair has dedicated his
life to fighting for the humble fruit.
Over the past 30 years, he's
created a veritable Garden of Eden,
one of the largest and rarest private
banana collections in the world.
[Vinod, in Malayalam] I have collected
around 520 varieties of bananas.
The groups in Kerala who were responsible
for protecting banana varieties
did not do their job.
[speaks Malayalam]
[Vinod] This made me
want to take action.
That is how I ended up
collecting so many varieties.
[Abaneesh] We had little
support when we first started.
And people think it's unusual
that I'm helping my father.
I have a master's
degree in engineering.
So, they assumed I
was crazy as well.
But we are doing something that
no one else in the world is doing.
[Vinod] Farmers often avoid
cultivating banana varieties that
yield smaller clusters of fruit
because their primary motivation
is to generate profit.
I do things differently.
Wherever there is
banana, I will be there.
[Redzepi, in English] For
Vinod and his son Abaneesh,
every day is centered
around the banana.
They're not alone.
Communities across the world
have been built around the fruit.
[Elizabeth, in Spanish] I started working
with bananas when I was 15 years old.
All my life has been here
in the Zona Bananera.
We all depend on bananas.
Kids, I love you. Take
care of yourselves.
[engine starts]
Bye!
We, the cleaners, take the
bunches and do the clusters.
There are clusters of four,
six, seven, and eight.
The crown must be very square
because what is sold
is only the look.
As the saying goes, you have to put
makeup on the banana for it to be bought.
I can't tell you how
many clusters I clean.
A lot. More than 3,000 a day.
Every pallet carries
between 48 and 56 boxes.
Each box carries from
17 to 20 clusters.
It's a huge amount.
[Redzepi, in English] Plantations,
like this one in Colombia,
grow exclusively one
banana, the Cavendish.
The one we all know and love.
The Cavendish has
been there for me
in more times and in more
places than I can count:
on a grueling ferry to Germany,
an endless flight to Australia,
after countless workouts and
hikes and long bike rides.
I've seen them in every airport
and convenience store in the world.
I've had banana
sliced over pancakes,
dipped in chocolate,
flambéed with booze, washed
down with a hot cup of coffee.
We keep our kitchen at noma stocked at
all times with a mountain of bananas.
Without the Cavendish,
I'm not sure we'd get through
prep for dinner service.
And I'm sure it's been
there for you too.
But with so many different
kinds of banana in the world,
how did this one variety come
to dominate Latin America,
our grocery stores
and our cereal bowls?
The recipe for banana dominance
begins with one special ingredient,
a man named Minor Cooper Keith.
[ship horn blows]
In 1871, Minor Keith set out to
Costa Rica to find his fortune.
This was the era of the
Rockefellers and Vanderbilts,
Manifest Destiny, the Gold Rush.
A time when western entrepreneurs believed
the world was theirs for the taking.
His plan?
To build a railroad from
San José to the Caribbean
and export Costa Rica's
rich natural resources.
All Keith had to do
was the impossible.
Lay 200 kilometers of train tracks through
one of the densest jungles in the world.
For the next 20 years, he
waged a war with nature.
As his workers toiled
in the hot sun,
Keith looked for a
cheap way to feed them.
He turned to a
strange local fruit
that was tasty, nutritious
and easy to grow.
Bananas.
All told, more than 5,000 people died
building the Costa Rican railroad.
But planted along those tracks
was the foundation of
Keith's future banana empire.
In India, it's said that if you grow
bananas, you will never go hungry.
[farmers chattering]
[Abaneesh, in Malayalam]
The banana tree is unique
in that all parts
of it are edible.
Every part of the banana tree is
useful, from its leaves to its roots.
[grunts]
Now cut the stem.
- Don't forget to clean it.
- [speaks Malayalam]
[mutters]
[Redzepi, in English] Bananas
in this part of the world
aren't just for
quick, easy snacking.
They're used as an ingredient in
an incredible variety of recipes.
Spices bloomed in
clarified butter,
dried chilies,
curry leaves.
These types of bold flavors aren't
ones I normally associated with banana.
Even the flower,
I had no idea that you could
transform a banana flower
the way cooks do here.
Pickled stems,
shredded peels,
leaves used both for
cooking and for serving.
Every part of the banana
has a place in the kitchen.
In the magic hands of
local cooks like Vijaya,
India's abundance of bananas
can be transformed into
flavors and textures
many of us never thought
possible with the fruit.
But even here, in a world
of dizzying diversity,
India's commercial
banana farmers
are focusing on the more
profitable export-friendly bananas,
like the high-yielding,
slow-ripening Cavendish.
This makes the work done by the father
and son team all the more vital.
With their collection,
Vinod and Abaneesh
are among the last lines of
defense against a one-banana world.
[Abaneesh, in Malayalam] Because
we cultivate a lot of varieties,
the maintenance required
for each variety is unique.
Each variety requires
individual attention.
The workload is quite heavy.
Right now, I am doing
all the work alone.
My father had a heart
issue two months back
and had to undergo surgery.
And if I were to leave,
there would be no one to tend to
the farm and care for my father.
So, that leaves me with no
option except to stay here.
[Vinod] There is a possibility that
my son may choose a different path.
How can I predict the future?
This is considered an offering.
We do it for a good future.
I pray for my father's good health
and a prosperous future for myself.
The world in front
of me is huge.
I have the opportunity to take
a different path if I so desire.
But I'm more concerned
about what will happen next.
[Redzepi, in English] Though
bananas have been central
to India's existence
for millennia
[presenter 1] Where
do bananas come from?
back in Minor Keith's day,
most of the Western world
had never laid eyes on one.
[presenter 2] The captain
of the ship had to explain
how to peel these strange fruit.
Even then, some of the kids didn't
seem to know how to eat them.
[Redzepi] How do you
take a tropical fruit,
that most people had
never seen before,
and turn it into a staple
of the global diet?
By unleashing the kind of marketing
campaign the world had never seen.
One that rippled through
Western culture for decades.
[presenter 3] If you
feel it, peel it.
[Redzepi] And is still
being felt today.
Huh? Banana?
Hey, what the
[Redzepi] Minor Keith's business,
the United Fruit Company,
flooded the market with
newspaper ads, radio jingles,
even a book called The
Food Value of the Banana.
New recipes were invented.
Pamphlets were handed out in classrooms
touting their nutritional benefits.
They turned to doctors,
celebrities and, of course,
a little anthropomorphized
banana to get the message out.
I'm Chiquita banana
And I've come to say ♪
Bananas have to ripen
in a certain way ♪
[Redzepi] The result?
Bananas went from an
obscure jungle fruit
to one of the most popular
items in the Western pantry
in a matter of a few years.
[presenter 4] Bananas are a favorite
breakfast fruit in every home.
[Redzepi] The United Fruit
Company didn't follow the recipe.
They wrote it.
They controlled every
piece of the production,
the land, the workers, the
transportation, the marketing and sales.
They centered their business
around just one variety of banana
to maximize productivity
and keep costs low.
This ushered in a radical new
era in industrialized food.
One that forever changed
how food is grown and sold.
It's one of the reasons
why a fresh banana
can be shipped halfway around the
world to my kitchen in Copenhagen
for a quarter of the cost of
an apple grown down the road.
And as business boomed
for United Fruit,
bananas became vital
to the economies
and daily lives of
millions in Latin America.
[Elizabeth, in Spanish] My whole
family has worked with bananas.
I learned to do this
because of them.
I really like to
cook with bananas.
My eldest son loves stuffed
and regular fried plantains.
With the peel, I
make a delicious jam.
I don't waste anything.
Imagine what someone has
to do with this fruit.
Someone has to remove
the little leaves.
Someone has to clean this plant.
In other words, this plant is
practically someone's child.
I say, "My God, this
banana is beautiful."
Why? Because here, we
do things with love.
None of my children want to
work in the banana field.
It's a tough job.
All jobs are hard.
No job is easy.
If they don't want
to work with bananas
and want to pursue a
career other than bananas,
well, I ask God for a
good life and health.
Because 95% of people in this
area work with the banana.
[child] The food is delicious.
[people chattering]
[Elizabeth] Thank the Lord.
Food is sacred. [Chuckles]
We depend on them for
practically everything.
[Elizabeth] When
you see a banana,
you must realize that behind this
banana there are several families.
[speaking Spanish]
Next time, you already
know what you have to cook.
And if I get tired?
I cook.
- Oh no! It's your turn.
- [child 2] Mm-hmm.
[Elizabeth] It wasn't
just one person.
An entire family did it
because their entire family
depends on that person.
Bananas are everything.
[Redzepi, in English] As the
world was gobbling up bananas,
the Americans in charge of United
Fruit continued to buy up land
and expand production
across Latin America.
The company became so
successful and so powerful
that they redrew the geopolitical
map of the 20th century.
Where do you think the name
banana republic came from?
[chorus] Oh!
[Redzepi] Indigenous
farmers, labor uprisings,
disagreeable politicians.
If there were any obstacle they
couldn't handle themselves,
the United Fruit Company
just called on its friends
in the US government to
protect its interests.
[marching footsteps]
One of the best or
worst examples of this,
1950s Guatemala.
Democratically elected
President Jacobo Árbenz,
looks to reclaim the land and resources
commandeered by the United Fruit Company
- and return it to the people.
- [protesters clamoring]
United Fruit uses its
well-oiled propaganda machine,
the same one that made Chiquita
Banana a household name,
to paint Árbenz as
a Communist threat.
It doesn't take long
before the US government
orchestrates a coup to
overthrow President Árbenz.
[crowd clamoring]
The country descends into decades
of civil war and economic collapse,
all for bananas.
Throughout the 20th century,
the United Fruit
Company positions itself
as the center of a proxy
war against Communism.
I think I understand something of what
this part of the world means to us.
The Kremlin must hate bananas.
[Redzepi] The messaging was so successful
that bananas became a powerful symbol
of America's most
exportable belief system,
unfettered capitalism.
It's crazy to think that a
fruit could be behind all this.
I didn't believe it myself.
But the scary truth is
that this is just a taste
of what the banana did
to change the world.
Where did that leave the countries
whose survival depended on bananas?
Where does it leave them today?
[reporter 1] A killer fungus is
destroying millions of bananas
[reporter 2] Officials in
Colombia confirm a fungus
that decimated banana plantations in
Asia and Australia is now there
[reporter 3] The world's
most popular banana
may be on the verge
of extinction.
[reporter 4] Bananas, as
we know it, may vanish.
[Redzepi] Fusarium is a lethal
fungus for the banana plant.
It lives in the soil,
infecting the roots
and choking the plant
of water and nutrients.
For years, the fungus was
a problem largely contained
to the eastern
part of the world,
chewing through millions of acres
of soil and billions of bananas.
But in 2019,
the first case in Latin America was
detected right here in Colombia,
prompting the government to declare a
state of emergency across the nation.
This is the danger of
building an entire industry
around a single
variety of banana.
With every Cavendish plant
being genetically identical,
the disease spreads rapidly,
wiping out entire plantations.
Worse still, the fungus
contaminates the soil for decades.
Right now, the only thing to
do is to mitigate the spread.
[worker, in Spanish] I work
here in the quarantine area.
An area that is now
affected by fusarium.
I dedicate myself to
my day-to-day work.
If I have to cut, I cut.
If I have to trim, I trim.
If I have to clean
the weeds, I do it.
To treat fusarium,
a person does not need to have
studied, read, or be intelligent.
What one needs is discipline.
Discipline and sanity.
I work here with four
other colleagues.
We haven't been to the main
facility for two years.
Because if we go in and out,
it will spread everywhere.
We are fighting against
something that
it's like throwing
stones into the wind.
Pass me my food.
[all laughing]
[farmer] Every day the same.
Every day.
[Alfonso] I was so fed up with bananas
that I took out the chicken comb to thaw,
and when I saw the cat outside
with it, I said, "son of a"
[all laughing]
Damn bananas, they're
drier than my face.
[laughs]
What do you aspire
to be in the future?
What would be your dream?
[farmer] Being a footballer.
- Hmm?
- [farmer] Play football.
Play football?
And you?
Gutierrez?
Be the Colombian Messi.
Hmm? Play football.
And you, Leonidas?
When I was a kid, I wanted
to be in the military.
Me, in the future I want
God to help me become mayor
of the Zona Bananera to try to fix
the situation in the Zona Bananera
so that there would be more
that there would
be more resources.
To fight the disease.
If it spreads,
the company will end
up closing the farm.
And what are we going to bring
home? What will our children eat?
My God.
Well, guys, let's go.
It's been long enough.
[Redzepi, in English] This banana pandemic
is not simply a recipe gone wrong.
It's what happens when you have
a streamlined one-banana system.
And the worst part is,
it's happened before.
Remember the banana we
saw in every commercial
[cartoon character singing]
United Fruit Company
ad, and vintage recipe?
Well, that banana doesn't
really exist anymore.
It was called the Gros Michel.
And it was the original banana.
The one that made the world fall
in love with this exotic fruit.
That is until the 1950s, when
an earlier strain of fusarium
spawned a pandemic that pushed
it to the edge of extinction.
But United Fruit Company
and the other banana barons
weren't going to let Mother
Nature get in the way.
They'd been searching for
a replacement for years.
One that covered all the
flaws of the Gros Michel.
And they found it in a safer, sturdier,
blander banana: the Cavendish.
New plantations were
erected overnight,
and the rest of us barely
noticed the near disaster.
Now, with fusarium emerging
with a taste for Cavendish,
scientists are once again
racing to develop a solution.
And as more farmers
grow Cavendish,
it's a race against the clock and
this one banana's grip on the world.
Because the irony is,
to save the banana industry,
we need other bananas.
Lots of them.
The key to saving the
Cavendish from fusarium
most likely lies
within the seeds
of one of the 1,500 other varieties
scattered around the globe.
But we can only hope to find the
solution if these bananas survive.
[Vinod, in Malayalam]
I am 62 years old,
and I am uncertain how
much time I have left.
So, to make sure that
the varieties of bananas
I have cultivated will
survive and thrive
I am establishing
"banana villages."
We've selected 200-300
houses in certain villages
and are providing them
with a variety of bananas.
Over time, these households will
share their produce with villagers,
and these banana varieties
will grow far and wide.
[Abaneesh] I learned
everything from my father.
He is my only
support, and I am his.
My father devoted his
entire life, health,
and financial resources
to banana farming.
As his son, it is my
responsibility to protect his farm
and uphold his legacy.
I want to ensure that these varieties
are preserved for the next generation.
[Redzepi, in English] If we want
all bananas to look and taste
and cost the same,
then will we ever stop
fighting fusarium?
And is it a fight
we want to pick?
Because Mother Nature will win.
But if we're okay with our
bananas being short and fat,
long and spotted,
sometimes green
or pink or black,
acidic, sweet or savory.
If we don't mind bananas
being cheap for some,
expensive for others,
then there is
another way forward.
If we combine the best
practices of the banana industry
with the best efforts of champions of
diversity, like Vinod and Abaneesh,
then maybe there's a brighter,
more delicious, more diverse future
for the world's
most popular fruit.