Today I write from my beautiful living room table. People sometimes ask me how I come up with my texts. I take this question with astonishment, because it is strange to realize that this blog really does reach people near and far and then – oh shock – can also be read! If I was always aware of who this weekly email was going to, I would probably want to keep tweaking the texts until they met my and my readers’ expectations. So basically, these little texts are created by ignoring the vastness and possible critical evaluation of the recipients in order to be able to express myself as a casual snapshot through my pen. And the way I perceive and want to show the world around me makes it easy for me to find a topic.
But not today: I look at the blank document on the screen and around me, back again… and smell and see: bananas! … bananas?
Aren’t they the Germans’ favorite fruit alongside apples? And aren’t we in the Canary Islands the number one banana producers in Europe? Well, I can already see a bridge (and I love bridges!).
I vaguely remember the many figures and stories on the display boards of the beautifully situated but didactically old-fashioned banana museum in La Palma, which we visited with the children on a vacation a few years ago (“Isn’t there even a banana to eat here, Mum?”). This much is clear: the (sub-)tropical fruit has been cultivated on the western Canary Islands for over 500 years and arrived there via sailors from West Africa, where the South Asian fruit had already been introduced via Madagascar. Alongside sugar cane, the banana was one of the Canary Islands’ most important exports. Unfortunately, however, the Canary banana now barely makes it to other European countries apart from Spain itself. Over 90 percent of the bananas consumed in Germany come from South America and Africa. These banana varieties are larger and probably also cheaper. In terms of taste, however, a green-harvested, floury Central American banana does not even come close to surpassing our Canarian bananas!
And against this backdrop, it seems particularly crazy that “picas”, the destruction of tons of bananas in the Canary Islands in order to stabilize their price, are occurring here again and again, and recently too. An expression of great grievances.
Oh… and since I don’t want to get political, I move on in my thoughts, only to come across a political issue. Wasn’t there something about the banana and the Day of German Unity, October 3rd?
Mikaela Nowak
