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Simply Bananas
02-19-2008, 01:11 PM
A friend sent me this. Here is nice link with the writer:
NPR: Bananas, A Storied Fruit with an Uncertain Future (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19097412)

momoese
02-19-2008, 01:30 PM
Here is a thread where we discussed this Author.

http://www.bananas.org/f2/interview-dan-koeppel-banana-kcrw-3260.html#post26017

Simply Bananas
02-19-2008, 01:33 PM
oh--thanks--I thought that is was just on in the last week or so.

GATrops
02-19-2008, 02:24 PM
I think this is a different interview.

momoese
02-19-2008, 07:11 PM
Yep, it's a different and more in depth interview. He's obviously misinformed about the fruit never ripening on the plant, and he didn't say commercially, just a blanket statement saying that the fruit will not ripen until removed from the plant.

inkcube
02-20-2008, 12:26 AM
he knows that fruit can ripen on the plant, i have talked with him a few times and one of those times was in Honduras. while at FHIA he was given ripe fruit from many cultivars to taste and they were taken directly from plant. he's alluding to the fact that on the plantations fruit is not allowed to ripen on the plant.

Gabe15
02-20-2008, 12:33 AM
Although I like seeing that some important aspects of bananas are being more widely publicized, there is still a lot of half truths and other little details that make the story more interesting, but are not necessarily true in some (or any) situations. I understand that this is basically for people who are not scientists in the field, so its ok thats its not right on the ball on every point, but for people who are serious about accurate information, its good to do background research before taking anything from the book as absolute fact. Now, I haven't read the book (yet...its on the way though), but of 3 other separate publications I have seen of his work (Popular Science article and 2 radio interviews), I have not really been impressed yet.

...just my opinion

inkcube
02-20-2008, 01:44 AM
speaking as some one who has published books and articles for the non-scientific community as well as for the scientific community, editors do things that you have no control over or catch unaware until you read the printed item. i had a book chapter in which an editor completely changed DTPA (1,1,4,7,7-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid) to DPTA, a grad student of mine had a paper published in which an editor completely misspelled poinsettia changing it to pointsettia - even after she corrected the galleys the editor changed it to the incorrect spelling. its difficult enough to write a book even more so when there are people correcting things they no nothing about and not telling you they did. and for Koeppel, to try and write a book for the non-scientific reader when he has been given scientific info is even harder - i have a difficult time writing for the non-scientific reader i can only imagine how it was for him.

momoese
02-20-2008, 10:24 AM
he knows that fruit can ripen on the plant, i have talked with him a few times and one of those times was in Honduras. while at FHIA he was given ripe fruit from many cultivars to taste and they were taken directly from plant. he's alluding to the fact that on the plantations fruit is not allowed to ripen on the plant.

Again, he never never used the word "comercially" Of course we also know they are not grown on "trees" as he claims!

Here is the direct quote from the interview.

"a banana on a tree is always green, it will not ripen until it comes off the tree. The ripening process begins the moment the banana is removed from the tree"

If he would have prefaced that statement with "on the commercial plantations" that would have been fine.

inkcube
02-20-2008, 11:51 AM
Again, he never never used the word "comercially"

for the average person its no big deal. i know botany professor that use the word tree with banana. for many plant scientists the word tree has evolved to mean any woody or herbaceous plant over 6-8 ft.

"a banana on a tree is always green, it will not ripen until it comes off the tree. The ripening process begins the moment the banana is removed from the tree"

i guess working in the commercial part of bananas i see nothing wrong with this statement - its true. i doubt there are very many of his listeners know that you can grow a banana at home and get it to fruit.

i have played this interview in my lab for my students and techs, sent it to my brother in Limon, as well as colleagues at FHIA and none of them take offense at anything he says.

momoese
02-20-2008, 12:01 PM
for many plant scientists the word tree has evolved to mean any woody or herbaceous plant over 6-8 ft.


Just currios, would this line of thinking apply to a 50 foot vine that has turned woody and can support itself at the lower levels?

inkcube
02-20-2008, 01:19 PM
yep. i have seen in my work with Passiflora many knowledgeble people refer to the vines as trees, as well rose bushes, lantanas, and even poinsettias - there is a very prominent poinsettia researcher who always uses the would tree in his talks. tree used to be define as a perennial woody plant with bark but with technology changing the view is changing, a tree fern is a tree but does not produce bark, plus there are annuals that produce wood but in the past have been excluded from being called tree; mums produce wood as do poinsettias and there is an annual passionflower that does. and then there are those herbaceous perennials that produce wood in their roots, corm or rhizomes but not in their trunk and branches, like some peony species.

some of the old guard scientists still stick to the original definition (i have met some that don't acknowledge tree ferns as trees) but as they fade and the new younger guys/gals take over the definition is evolving.

i guess the use of tree does not offend me since i see it bantered around by the undergrads i teach, by the bananeros i work with on the farms, horticulturists, and even some of the profs i've worked with.