This is America in Pursuit, a limited run series from ThruLine and NPR.

I'm Randaud de Fattah.

Each week, we bring you stories about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the U.S. that began 250 years ago.

Right now, bananas are so ubiquitous in our lives that we can't imagine life without them.

Yeah, you heard that right. Bananas. As in the sweet tropical fruit, that's become a mainstay of

American breakfast. Okay, so the reason we're talking about bananas is because they help us understand

a key part of American history. The Teddy Roosevelt era.

When at the turn of the 20th century,

this was a time when rugged men went out to make their name in the world.

The idea of what constituted America and its sphere of influence

started to expand far beyond its borders.

It's the era of machismo, of doing things.

The world belonged to them.

It was theirs for the taking.

So what's this got to do with bananas?

Well, today on the show, we're going to tell you the story of how one American entrepreneur

named Minor Keith helped bring the banana to the American diet by looking beyond

the U.S.'s shores and becoming the uncrowned king of Central America.

We'll bring you that story right after a quick break.

Minor Keith had grown up in Brooklyn, New York, and he had become a cattle rancher in Texas.

You know, it's a very common motif in America for sort of patrician or urban types to sort of become cowboys.

This is writer Dan Copel.

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