North Americans currently eat mostly one variety of banana called the Cavendish variety that is sold in our supermarkets. What is interesting is my grandparents ate a different variety of bananas until the 1950s called the Gros Michel banana until a fungus wiped out almost the entire crop, and the banana industry had to introduce a new variety to replace it - the Cavendish (which took about 10 years and had to use a new shipping process because it bruises and ripens so easily).
There is a big problem approaching with our current banana variety - a soil fungus that rots the Cavendish has moved through Asia, Australia, and now parts of Africa and the Middle East, so it's only a guessing game on how soon it will arrive in Latin America, which grows the majority of our banana crop. When that happens, growers will have to switch to other varieties, but they taste quite different. If growers continue to grow monocultures of a single variety of banana, they will keep getting wiped out by fungus at some point, and the problem will repeat itself. Bananas are also under threat from insect outbreaks, so things are not looking good for America's most-eaten fruit.
http://news.msn.com/science-technology/start-getting-used-to-the-idea-of-eating-really-different-bananas
There is a big problem approaching with our current banana variety - a soil fungus that rots the Cavendish has moved through Asia, Australia, and now parts of Africa and the Middle East, so it's only a guessing game on how soon it will arrive in Latin America, which grows the majority of our banana crop. When that happens, growers will have to switch to other varieties, but they taste quite different. If growers continue to grow monocultures of a single variety of banana, they will keep getting wiped out by fungus at some point, and the problem will repeat itself. Bananas are also under threat from insect outbreaks, so things are not looking good for America's most-eaten fruit.
http://news.msn.com/science-technology/start-getting-used-to-the-idea-of-eating-really-different-bananas