THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Banana

Lisa Karen Miller

          If you ever visit New Orleans, don’t miss the Bananas Foster at Brennan’s, where the dessert was invented in 1951 by Ella Brennan, sister of owner Owen Brennan, and the queen of the kitchen.

          Owen was expecting a special dinner guest one particular evening.  Typically, he had only mentioned it to Ella that morning, at the same time instructing her to concoct something special in honor of Richard Foster, New Orleans’ new chairman of the Crime Commission.

          “%^&* you, Owen,” Miss Ella supposedly retorted, with feeling.

          Nevertheless, she was a professional to her fingertips, so she began casting around her kitchen for inspiration.

          Her eyes lit on a pile of bananas. 

          The restaurant was always well supplied with fresh fruits and veggies because another brother, John, ran a produce business.

          John often bought straight off the boats, especially those that had been delayed in harbor.  Rather than letting their cargo rot, captains were all too happy to sell it at a discount. Just recently John had made a smoking deal with a banana boat.

          Ella remembered that her mother had sometimes made caramelized bananas for breakfast, and decided flambéing them with a bit of rum and banana liqueur would make for a spectacular dessert.  She added some vanilla ice cream, and the legendary dish was born.  

          The Cuyamel Fruit Company was also based in New Orleans.  It had been started by a Russian immigrant who quickly saw how to make huge profits by buying off the boats.  He became so successful that he eventually bought some land in Honduras and established a banana plantation himself.

          The term “banana republic” has come to symbolize a small country whose economy relies on one commodity.  Such economies are often controlled by outside interests, to the detriment of the native workers.

          The symbolic meanings of Musa include goodness, money, fertility, and prosperity. The leaves, flowers, and fruit are used in prosperity spells because it is such a fruitful plant.

          In Japanese mythology, the creator gave the original people the choice between a stone and a banana.  They chose the banana because it could be eaten.  It also decays, however, while a stone does not. 

          Had they chosen the stone, they would have been given eternal life.

          Today it is very lucky to be married under a banana tree, although until 1819 in Hawaii, the fruit was so strictly forbidden to women that violation of this taboo was punishable by death.

          Of course, you cannot claim to be a Kentuckian until you have tried Nanner Puddin’ made with Nilla wafers.          

The perishable banana – the ancestors made the better choice.

© Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller