TRIVIA TODAY - Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Greetings Infomaniacs,

Did you know that the banana is the most popular fruit in the United States? "The banana is by far the most popular fruit worldwide. We consume about 25 pounds of bananas per person per year," explains Dan Koeppel, author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World. To learn more about this favorite fruit, read on...

Enjoy!
Melissa

Questions? Comments? Email Melissa

P.S. Did you miss an issue? You can read every issue from the Gophercentral library of newsletters on our exhaustive archives page. Thousands of issues, all of your favorite publications in chronological order. You can read AND comment. Just click Gophercentral Archives

WHO SAID IT?
QUOTE: "Eating is really one of your indoor sports. You play three times a day, and it's well worth while to make the game as pleasant as possible."

HINT: (1889-1969), was an American interior decorator who used bright, exuberant colors and large prints that would encompass whole walls.

RANDOM TIDBITS
Bananas were never really heard of until 1880. However, by 1910, they were so popular that cities had a problem disposing of used banana peels. Back then, there was no urban sanitation and people were literally slipping on banana peels and hurting themselves.

In 1910, the City of St. Louis had an ordinance specifically prohibiting people from throwing banana peels on the ground. And for much of the early 1900s, one of the suggested Boy Scout manual good deeds of the day was to pick up banana peels from the street.

Today, bananas are so popular due to the entrepreneurial drive of the early banana barons who founded a company in the 1880s called United Fruit (which is now Chiquita.) When they introduced the banana, Americans generally didn't know what a banana was and had to be taught how to peel and determine if they were ripe.

There are more than 1,000 varieties of amazing and delicious bananas - most of them are in Africa and Asia. But in the United States, we only eat one called the Cavendish. The Cavendish is a more bland banana compared to those in India where 600 banana varieties are grown.

The Cavendish, the banana we currently eat, is not the original breed that was introduced into the United States. That breed was called the Gros Michel, but was eradicated by a fungus. "Yes, We Have No Bananas," the famous song from the 1920s, may be related to that banana shortage.

Up through the 1950s, Chiquita released banana cookbooks full of interesting and sometimes odd recipes. Making a big push to get people to eat bananas with every meal, they tried to position the banana as both a sweet fruit and a vegetable, like a potato. You could find recipes for ham banana rolls with cheese sauce, bananas with mint jelly, and banana soup.

(www.parade.com)

*** Weekly Mind-Scrambler ***
One strand dangles.
Two strands twist.
Three or more can
fashion this.

Submit your answer by clicking: HERE

Answer will be posted in Friday's Trivia Today. Good Luck! If your name appears in Friday's newsletter, EMAIL MICHELE your complete name and address to be shipped your prize. Be sure to put "Winner" in the subject line.

WHO SAID IT?
QUOTE: "Eating is really one of your indoor sports. You play three times a day, and it's well worth while to make the game as pleasant as possible."

ANSWER: Dorothy Draper.

***
Missed an Issue? Visit the Trivia Today Archives