In the late 19th century, bananas, a fruit that had been popular for thousands of years, suddenly became a mass market sensation.

However, just a few decades after it was popularized, the industry had to completely change what was grown due to a pestilence.

As a result, the bananas that most people eat today are very different than the bananas that everyone ate before the Second World War.

Learn more about bananas and why your grandparents didn't eat the same kind on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. There's a great deal of uncertainty regarding the origin of the banana.

It isn't as if there's a whole lot of archaeological evidence of bananas,

and if you've ever had bananas in your kitchen for more than a few days, you probably understand why.

The location that most people agree was probably the home to the banana was Papua New

Guinea, and it might first have been domesticated around 10,000 years ago. The domestication of the

banana probably occurred well before the domestication of rice. Bananas are

actually pretty easy to grow in tropical climates so long as you have

reasonably good soil. While the banana

plant may have originated in Poppa New Guinea that wasn't where it was popularized

and spread. The best guess, and again it's a guess as is everything about early bananas, is that the

banana found their way to what is today the Philippines and from there rapidly

spread throughout Southeast Asia and Oceania around 10,000 to 7,000 years ago.

The spread of the banana is very difficult. around 10,000 to 7,000 years ago.

The spread of the banana is very difficult to track,

but we do know that wherever it went,

people created new hybrids and varietals.

Most people aren't aware of it,

but there are a large number of banana varietals around the world.

And it's shocking because unlike other fruits like apples, most people only eat one kind of banana.

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