‘Throughline’: There Will Be Bananas
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 December 2023
⏱️ 57 minutes
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Summary
The banana is a staple of the American diet and has been for generations. But how did this exotic tropical fruit become so commonplace? Today on “Post Reports,” Martine Powers shares an episode of one of her favorite podcasts, “Throughline.”
Find “Throughline” here, or wherever you’re listening to this podcast.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Martin, and it is Thursday, December 28th. |
| 0:07.0 | So today, we are featuring a story about Bananas. |
| 0:11.0 | This is a story that I first heard a few years ago on a podcast that I really enjoy called |
| 0:16.0 | Thruline. They do these vivid deep dives into surprising moments from history that you think |
| 0:21.6 | you understand, but you don't actually know anything about it all. |
| 0:24.5 | So this episode in particular stuck with me because it's about something that is so mundane. |
| 0:29.7 | Bananas. This fruit that you can get in almost every grocery store in the country. |
| 0:35.0 | If I go to a Starbucks, if I go to a 7-11 and they are selling fruit, they are most likely selling a banana. |
| 0:41.0 | But when you think about it, that's pretty strange because this one tropical |
| 0:46.3 | quote-unquote exotic imported fruit has somehow become this mainstay of a conventional |
| 0:52.3 | American diet. |
| 0:54.0 | Anyway, this story answers that question |
| 0:56.3 | of how the banana became such a big deal. |
| 0:58.8 | But it's also a story about colonialism, capitalism, labor movements, U.S. foreign policy, |
| 1:05.0 | intervention in Latin America. |
| 1:07.0 | This story has it all. |
| 1:08.0 | So today, we are playing you this story. |
| 1:11.0 | It's called There Will Be Bananas, and it comes to you from Thruline at NPR. |
| 1:15.7 | And if you want to hear more of their stories, subscribe to Thruline in your podcast app. |
| 1:20.3 | All right, here we go. Right, here we go. Right now, |
| 1:23.0 | bananas are |
| 1:24.0 | in our |
... |
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