Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Go Bananas!

Here and Now, an NPR program originating from WBUR in Boston just aired an interview with John Soluri. It's here in Real Audio (scroll down, last item on today's program).

John is my brother-in-law, but more importantly, his book is all about bananas! Here are some random banana facts I find worth dropping into conversation:

- Bananas are the most consumed fresh fruit in the USA

- Bananas are the most eated imported food in America

- Virtually no one ate bananas in the US before the 20th century

- the average American eats 5 bananas a week

John's book, Banana Cultures, also looks at the environmental issues that came up when countries like Honduras shifted their agricultural resources to a single cash crop and how they were basically screwed by United Fruit Company (now known as Chiquita).

Listen to the interview!

Buy the book!

(I want to also point out that I suggested this media outlet for John. If you have an academic book coming out [hey, Liz], let me know and I will brainstorm up some publicity for you, too. But then you have to send me a copy of your book.)

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