Los bananos en Costa Rica!!! :)

          It's impossible to look at Costa Rica's economy, politics, and even social history without the presence of bananas. Especially after Nicaragua, it is overwhelming how many bananas are sold in Costa Rica, almost everywhere we go. I've notices bananas and plantains being sold in Más Por Menos, AMPM, fruit stands I pass daily, and most of the restaurants and touristy hotel breakfasts have bananas too. They're common and readily available. There's a range of plantain serving styles, but not as many for bananas. Bananas are more just small or regular size, they look more spotted with brown than the US, but they're much better tasting in my opinion. As far as plantains, they're cooked and served with cheese or sweet with Cinnamon and sugar. They're also bought in chip form with salt and or lime. They're also fried and either sweet or salty. They can be found as side dishes, desserts, on salads, and a variety of uses. 

          I also talked to my Tica mom about bananas and she had a lot of interesting perspective on them. She told me how they are the second most successful export of Costa Rica. She told me how they were grown mostly on the Atlantic side of Costa Rica (Limón) and how this had really started in the 80's with the Fruit Company (the UFC, it was impressive that she used English to explain it, since she doesn't know much). This was interesting because she also said that the US company (UFC) employed Africans and Jamaicans to work on the banana plantations. She didn't mention Nicaraguans, which was really interesting to me, seeing as that's been seen as a negative for many Costa Ricans. She said as far as pride for the country, coffee was only more popular because it came first. She stressed the importance of the bananas to Costa Rican culture, politics, and economy. She told me that they're really important because of the bulk of exportations from Costa Rica to the US and Europe.

          This was fascinating because from what I read, I always assumed Ticans didn't respect bananas very much or see an importance to them. I thought that they were considered less classy than coffee and other exports because of who worked on the plantations. They always had worse work conditions and I thought a lesser social reputation. Maybe that's changed overtime as the banana culture has changed and it is more respected, but it seemed Limón was pretty traditional in their methods and lifestyle of banana producing, so who knows. I can see the value of food through Barthes' definition in Toward a Psychosociology of Contemporary Food Consumption where he said on page 22, "Substances, techniques of preparation, habits, all become part of a system of differences in signification; and as soon as this happens, we have communication by way of food."This is so true, bananas caught on really fast in the popular culture of the consuming countries and this created a demand that created communication and value of the bananas as a new staple for many tropical countries. 

In Cosechas there are bananas in most of their smoothie options, this is common for most places in Costa Rica, this is just a more modern example.

These are an example of Plantain chips with salt! A differnt way to eat them, not fresh, but it's common, popular, and fairly cheap here in Costa Rica.