How people eat their bananas was a crowdsourcing experiment asking people to submit a photo of a favourite banana or banana dish. The objective was to showcase the diversity and versatility of the world's most popular fruit. The submitted photos and the stories they tell are displayed below.
| Title | Photo | Caption | Photographer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patacones |  | I am from Colombia, where patacones are a popular and traditional snack (you might know them as tostones). But since I live in the Netherlands, I have to make my own. I shot a video that explains how to make them. It's in Spanish with English subtitles. Hope you enjoy it. | Fernando Garcia Bastidas |
| Gros Michel ice cream |  | After the blind taste test (Gros Michel or Cavendish, which is the yummiest banana?), I had very ripe Gros Michel bananas left. I put them in the blender with a few scoops of yoghurt and put the mix in an ice cream maker for 30 minutes. The kids liked it. We went through the 12 glasses in less than 2 days. | Inge Van den Bergh |
| Patacón combo |  | Guacamole goes well with patacón (double-fried flattened plantain), but this time I added a shrimp. Delicious! | Miguel Dita, Brazil |
| Grilled bananas |  | I saw those grilled bananas in a market near Vang Vieng, north of Ventiane in Laos. They were called Kluai Nam, possibly a Silk type. | Miguel Dita, Brazil |
| Three types of banana in one meal |  | While travelling in Uganda - the world's second largest producer of bananas - I had the unique chance of tasting three very different types of banana in one dish. From left to right: The dessert banana Gros Michel - famous predecessor of the Cavendish banana - a fried Plantain and a mashed East African Highland Banana - locally known as Matooke. A banana experience you can only enjoy in Uganda. | Sarah Schmidt, Germany |
| Grilled Zanzi bananas |  | Strolling in the narrow maize-like streets of Zanzibar’s capital Stone Town, chances are high you will bump into bananas under one form or the other. In my case grilled plantains of an unknown variety. I think that they are locally known as “Ndizi kaanga” (literally fried banana)… or maybe there is a more specific name, I’m not sure. Great with fish, meat or “au naturel”! | Pascale Lepoint |
| Banana breakfast |  | I love bananas, and I eat one practically every day at breakfast. I usually eat a Cavendish but I was happy to come across this Red banana. These are two ways I eat them:
| Karen Lehrer, France |
| Turon |  | Another popular snack in the Philippines is the turon. It is thinly sliced bananas (usually Saba bananas) dusted with brown sugar, rolled in a spring roll wrapper and fried. Some people add slices of jackfruit. | Gus Molina, the Philippines |
| Banana cue |  | On the left is a photo of banana cue (or kyu in Tagalog), a fried banana covered with caramelized brown sugar and served on a stick. On the right is the Saba banana most commonly used to make the popular street food. I found a Youtube video showing how to make banana cue. It's in Tagalog but the ingredients are written in English. | Gus Molina, the Philippines |
| Karat banana |  | The best banana I have ever eaten is the Karat banana. When I was in Pohnpei, in the Federated States of Micronesia, I bought a small bunch of ripe Karat bananas. Everyday I had one banana that I peeled halfway and ate with a spoon, so creamy (and dreamy) this banana is. Fei bananas, the group of unusual bananas to which the Karat banana belongs, are said to be unpalatable when eaten raw. I think it's mostly a question of waiting for them to be at the right stage of ripeness. In banana-importing countries consumers tend to be fussy about how a banana looks. They like a smooth and unblemished peel. I found that the Karat banana was at its best when the peel is wrinkled. | Anne Vezina, France |