{"id":252176,"date":"2022-06-23T15:34:50","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T15:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=252176"},"modified":"2022-06-23T15:34:50","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T15:34:50","slug":"in-search-of-the-gros-michel-the-cadillac-of-bananas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2022\/06\/23\/in-search-of-the-gros-michel-the-cadillac-of-bananas\/","title":{"rendered":"In search of the Gros Michel, the Cadillac of bananas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Gros Michel \u2014 the Big Mike \u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlasobscura.com\/articles\/gros-michel-bananas\"> used to be the standard commercial banana<\/a>, until a bug wiped it out in the 1950s. The same thing could happen to the Cavendish variety, since it is also a genetic clone<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"412\" width=\"525\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-content\/uploads\/de6a984876a3583d8c_bananajpg_015471486821779083251.jpg?resize=525%2C412&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-252175\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>I am here for the Gros Michel\u2014the OG banana that was the standard across the United States from 1870, when it sold for $2 a bunch in Jersey City, until the late 1950s, when the ruinous fungus Panama disease all but wiped it out.<br \/><br \/>I am on a quest across New York City for the Gros Michel, the Big Mike, the banana that launched a thousand pratfalls. Online, people speak of it in revered digital tones: \u201cI am absolutely dying to try one,\u201d one banana forum user writes, promising to pay \u201can arm and a leg\u201d for them. Another claims they are so delicious that regular Cavendish bananas are disgusting by comparison. Today, the banana is virtually gone from the consumer market in the United States\u2014finding it will be at best a challenge, and perhaps impossible.<br \/><br \/>It wasn\u2019t always the case: The Gros Michel was once everywhere. When America fell in love with the banana, this is the fruit that captured its heart. The alchemist who first produced&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20060901162222\/http:\/\/www.umc.pitt.edu\/media\/pcc040826\/fromPittcameSplit.html\">the banana split<\/a>&nbsp;used a Gros Michel; the chemist who produced artificial banana flavor&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/story\/20140829-the-secrets-of-fake-flavours\">allegedly<\/a>&nbsp;had it in mind as well. When Eddie Cantor sings \u201cYes, We Have No Bananas,\u201d it is Big Mike he\u2019s singing about.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"syndication-links\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Gros Michel \u2014 the Big Mike \u2014 used to be the standard commercial banana, until a bug wiped it out in the 1950s. The same thing could happen to the Cavendish variety, since it is also a genetic clone I am here for the Gros Michel\u2014the OG banana that was the standard across the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2022\/06\/23\/in-search-of-the-gros-michel-the-cadillac-of-bananas\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;In search of the Gros Michel, the Cadillac of bananas&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crsspst_to_mathewingramblogwordpresscom":false,"mf2_syndication":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}