Bananas

Above is a photo I took at the market place where my family purchases all the fruit eaten in our house. My parents are very health conscious and refuse to buy produce at a super-market. Therefore, the bananas we consume are much fresher, and the money goes directly to the farmers instead of filtering through large fruit corporations. I feel that these bananas are displayed differently than in the US. First of all, bananas aren't sold at produce stands because they aren't a local fruit. Secondly, these bananas do not appear to be as vibrant or healthy as our bananas because all the high quality produce is shipped to the US first. In this photo you can see the variety in which they are sold. Some are ripe, some are yellow, some are hanging and others are on the table in large bushels. In comparison, the bananas at home are much yellower and uniform and are usually sold in smaller quantities.
Through interviewing my Tica Mom, I gained new insight into how important bananas actually are to Costa Rica. In regards to how they are actually eaten, bananas in Costa Rica are just as much a staple as they are in the US but in a different way. My mother frequently gives them to me raw for breakfast or with a serving of pancakes. However, bananas and plantains are also fried as side dishes, served in salads, and of course in desserts and breads. She basically explained at length the way bananas are prepared for almost any meal in Costa Rica. Culturally, bananas are very important. My mother said that almost every family in her childhood neighborhood had some family member that worked in the plantations. She also spoke often about the large fruit companies from the US and the conditions in which her relatives worked. Obviously, the cultivation of bananas is central to Tican history. Now, bananas are no longer as important as other crops grown and Costa Rican dependency on them has shrunk - according to her. So, they maintain their symbolic, cultural importance but they do not have the same economic importance any more. When listening to her, I drew comparisons to the readings by Barthes and Mintz. All foods convey meanings and serve as a form of communication and in Costa Rica, this is true for bananas. Bananas have become part of Costa Rica's national identity or myth. So, regardless of the cultivation here they will always be important - much like coffee.