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- Hi, I'm Jerry James Stone and welcome
to another episode of What the Fork?!
Today we're gonna talk about, well, bananas.
So, there's this Korean market that has been
packaging up bananas in this really kind of
ingenious but also really, really, wasteful way,
and I think it's kinda cool so I
think it's definitely worth mentioning.
They basically take six bananas that are at different
stages of ripeness from like green to yellow
and wrap it all up and basically, so when you buy it,
you have a banana that's the perfect ripeness
every single day, 'cause each one is different
whereas opposed to, you know, when you
regularly buy bananas, you buy a bunch
and they're all at the same ripeness.
So it's kind of a cool idea.
I mean, it's innovative and I like that aspect of it,
but I really hate the part where
it's really, really wasteful. But before I get into that,
I have a question for all of you who are watching.
So, we all have our preference when it comes to bananas.
Like, some people like 'em green,
some people like 'em really, really ripe,
some like 'em somewhere in between
like this really cool banana number chart.
So I wanna know what your banana number is, okay?
The banana number is not like a real thing,
but just use this chart and tell me what you prefer.
I'm kinda curious as to which ripeness you like your banana.
I'll just sit here and wait.
Okay, I'm kidding, I'm not gonna wait,
but like anyway, just leave a comment
and tell me what you think.
So, like I said, this is pretty wasteful,
and the reason it's wasteful is because
bananas kinda come in their own packaging, right?
They have a peel; you don't need
to actually wrap them in plastic.
I get it, you're selling this convenience
of the six bananas where you always have
the perfect banana for every day of the week,
but is it really worth all the waste?
You could just have the different bananas
in different ripeness, in different, you know,
piles within the store and people can just pick 'em out.
You don't actually have to like bundle them up,
and I think having all that
plastic waste is a really big problem.
We currently, as a, you know, Planet Earth,
we dump like a garbage truck's worth of plastic
and trash into the ocean every minute, every single minute,
so much so that there's literally an island of trash
floating out in the pacific island
that's like three times the size of France.
That's how much trash is like just out there floating
already, and we're already adding in a garbage truck
every single minute, so having more waste
like wrapping bananas in plastic when they already have
a peel just seems silly to me.
I'm just wondering, is that something that you care about?
I care about that stuff a lot,
but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it,
and here's a really funny thing too.
Banana peels are actually edible.
Now, I haven't eaten one, but you have to cook them first.
That's the caveat for them, but they're actually edible,
and when you think about food waste,
at least here in America, we throw out 40% of the food
that we grow, so maybe we should start
eating the banana peels, I don't know,
but you don't actually have to, at least not yet.
Here's something really interesting.
There's some farmers in Japan who are actually developing
a banana where you can eat the
peel just like you eat an apple.
So you eat the whole darn fruit,
and I say like, you know what, that shit is bananas.
Okay, that's my little shout out to Gwen Stefani,
but yeah, you can actually eat the whole banana.
I haven't tried it, but if you're in Japan
and you're watching this, please let me know.
I'm kinda curious, what does it taste like?
Is it tasty, because I haven't ever eaten a banana peel.
Like I said, Americans throw out a lot of food.
We throw out 40% of the food that we grow.
That's a lot of wasted water and hungry people
that aren't getting food, and if you wanna know
exactly what that breakdown is for Americans wasting food,
be sure to check out my video on American food waste.
Even without the edible banana peel that's
coming from Japan, bananas are actually
a pretty interesting food in general.
First off, they're actually a berry
because they have the seeds on the inside of the fruit.
So, for example, strawberries are not a berry
'cause they have the seeds on the outside of the fruit.
They're also radioactive, did you know that?
They put out radiation, who knew?
And you probably think that bananas come
from a tree, but they actually don't.
The plant that the banana grows on
is actually classified as an herb.
It's literally the world's largest herb,
but it's an herb and not a tree,
and if you've ever used the banana emoji in sexting,
if you're wondering how they get that penile curve
they have, here's a really kind of funny thing.
So, bananas, when they're growing on that really large
herb, they actually grow upside down.
So when they're growing, they grow upside down
and they grow towards the sun.
So that's how they get that shape.
So, basically, the banana plant... herb, tree...whatever it is,
just kidding, that banana tree has like a gazillion
tiny little penile banana things growing off of it
and, you know what, no Viagra needed.
And speaking of penile and Viagra and all that stuff,
did you know that Gwen Stefani is
actually a distant cousin of Madonna?
Okay, I just wanted to share that.
That's actually not the way I was going.
Honestly, the thing I wanted to tell you
is that in 2016, China actually passed a law
that prohibits people from seductively
eating a banana in a livestream.
So, you know, when you're using that banana emoji,
it's not just you that thinks it looks
like a penis, China thinks so too.
So, there you go.
The fact is, people love bananas.
It's one of the most popular fruits.
Here in America, we consume 27 pounds of bananas per person
per year, and let me just say that one more time.
We consume 27 pounds of bananas per person per year.
That's a lot of bananas!
I'm not sure why the banana is so popular.
I mean, I personally like them.
Maybe it's because, did you know this,
that the banana actually shares 50% of its DNA with people?
So, we're like, you know, kinda related.
I guess that makes it sort of cannibalistic
if you eat bananas, probably not, not really.
Keep eating your bananas 'cause they are really healthy.
They're high in potassium, they're really good for you,
and if you are a banana lover, please don't buy this
package, well, you have to be in Korea,
but, you know, who knows, it might actually take off
'cause those sort of things do.
Please don't buy this type of stuff.
It's really, really wasteful.
The amount of plastic and trash that goes into making
that package of six perfect bananas is just over the top.
You can easily have the perfect
banana with very little effort.
I actually have a video on it that shows you
how to store bananas to make them ripen the way
you want to or to prevent them from ripening.
So be sure to check that out, and one last
little fun fact on all this banana stuff.
Did you know that the Twinkie was
originally banana flavored, who knew?
I did not, until recently.
Thanks for tuning in.
I'll see you guys next time.
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