We are short 374,000 tons this season, way up from a shortfall of 74,000 tons last season. Chocolate prices have tripled. West Africa is having the problem. Ghana, specifically. There is a virus that kills the trees. Illegal mining pollutes the water and kills the trees. But mostly the virus. Some headlines call this a "chocolate meltdown." The hope is Latin American countries will be able to step up production. That will help Easter stay afloat.
But what about a crisis that could happen daily? That's the banana pandemic. We only eat one variety of the thousands of bananas that grow - the Cavendish banana. Every single Cavendish banana grown is a clone so they aren't adapting to conditions or becoming resistant to viruses. Panama disease is a fusarium wilt, and just a few spores can lead the way to blighting an entire plantation.
Could it be possible that we will be eating something that looks and tastes like banana but is artificial? There's a long way to go to get artificial banana flavours that taste like bananas. Isoamyl acetate has been criticized widely for not tasting like bananas. Or it tastes like a banana that we don't normally eat, given we only eat Cavendish.
Science Daily says the day will come (that was in 2008) when scientists will fine tune enzymes responsible for flavours in fruits and vegetables. I guess there should be hope on this one too. Or we'll be eating all colours and textures of bananas - sort of like the many carrots that are available again.
Look up "Can we simulate bananas" and you get a lot of video games - roblox banana simulator, simulation of giant banana orbiting the earth, turning people into bananas, and banana (pet simulator).
Is there a possible best banana joke in the world? There certainly are claims for the best banana bread recipes in the world. Maybe the headline is the joke: "45 banana jokes to get your whole bunch laughing" or "25 banana jokes for a bunch of laughs"
Q - What do you call the period of time between slipping on a banana and landing on your butt? A - A bananosecond
We won't see a display like this one again at the Niagara Showcase greenhouse. All that forcing of bulbs and probably not a long-lived display. The last few years have seen the showcase greenhouse closed most of the winter and open in May.
This year, it is back to festivals all through the seasons. When I went a few weeks ago, the orchids on the white twig trees were artificial. Despite that it was very beautiful. That was part of a Cyclamen show and the replacement plants are all real for the orchid show on now. I got my seasonal parking pass - it was a bit shocking last month to pay $25 for an hour's visit to the greenhouse.
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