Bananas

My conversation with my Tica Mom didn't last as long or go as in depth as I was hoping. But knowing as much as we do about bananas from our readings it's hard for her to tell me something we haven't already learned from our experience here or in class. She told me that bananas and plantains are eaten almost daily by Costa Ricans. She said that bananas are mostly eaten fresh from the peel-no cooking necessary. Although the other night for dinner my Tica Dad cooked our mushy bananas the way you make dessert plantains...and it was not my favorite. My Tica Mom said that plantains are cooked all different ways-green, fried, dessert, etc. Bananas and plantains are very accessible to Costa Ricans and are bought fresh and ready to be eaten within two days of purchase. They are also very cheap for Ticans to buy and that along with the fact that bananas are exported help the Costa Rican economy. For the final question about Costa Rican history being to banana cultivation, my Tica Mom didn't know the answer. I felt bad because I think she was a little bit embarrassed since she knew that bananas were important, but didn't know why.

My first picture came from the market we went to and the second one came from the banana stand at AM/PM. From my experience, I've only seen bananas and plantains sold fresh. Unlike in the United States, bananas sold in Costa Rica are sold to be eaten that day or the next. I have rarely seen green bananas sold in the market or grocery store. This is due to the fact that fresh and ripe bananas are so accessible to the consumers since bananas are produced here in Costa Rica, where in the US we don't want to buy bananas that are over ripe. In fact, my own mother sometimes buys green bananas so that they will be fresh enough to eat a few days after she buys them. The bananas are usually set out on a shelf or stand in "hands" and the consumer breaks off the bananas for purchase. In Costa Rica, green plantains and yellow plantains are sold because the green ones have a different taste than the yellow more ripe plantains.  Except for the market and banana plantation, I have not really seen the small bananas sold in the stores. In the stores the bananas and plantains sit with the other fruits and aren't more prominent than the others.