The right way to eat a banana!

On the occasion of his 200th birthday on the 12th of February, the great Charles Darwin was remembered all over the world. Newspapers and magazines were full of articles about his contribution to the theory of evolution. There are many who continue to harbour ill feelings towards him for his audacity in tracing our ancestry to the monkeys. Ironically his detractors are the ones who continue to provide clinching evidence to support his theory! In fact, the more I watch my own actions at times, I am more than convinced about my simian connection. There are many stories about how Darwin could latch on to this connection a couple of centuries ago, one of them being about the highly uncharitable image that his private mirror kept showing of him.

I am not going to discuss here about what could have inspired Darwin to write the Origin of Species. I am here only to furnish yet another evidence in support of his theory of evolution. I have no idea about how all of you peel a banana but I do it keeping the stem in my hand. I was amazed when someone, seeing me consuming a banana holding the stem in my hand, pointed out that monkeys also ate them the same way. According to him, this is the most irrefutable evidence of our simian links. I am not a man who would accept a statement unless it is tried and proved. So on a good day, I visited the Vandalur Zoo to watch how monkeys ate the banana and I was awe-struck by the great similarity between me and the monkeys in eating a banana including the foolish grin which consumption of banana normally produced in us!

The story does not end there. I have now learnt that it is a wrong way to peel a banana. Knowing the great appetite that we all have here for learning the correct procedure for rendering the fruits and vegetables consumable like de-seeding the pomegranates and such other complicated fruits, I have decided to discuss here the correct procedure for peeling and consuming a banana. On second thoughts, it would be better if I place before you the pros and cons of eating a banana from either side so that you may judge for yourself the best way.

One strong view that is expressed about people who eat a banana keeping the stem in their hands with the skin limply hanging down like a skirt is that they strongly resemble a chimpanzee in this position. The antagonists of this time honoured method of eating a banana point out that there are better ways of proving our ancestry than by imitating a monkey’s eating methods. They further argue that the bananas are most likely to be bruised at the non stem end. If you peel the banana from the stem side, you can safely eat it up to the bruise and throw it away with the skin still covering the bruise. But if you hold the stem in hand and peel it from the other end, you are straightaway exposed to the bruised end. You will have no alternative but to clip off the bruised portion with your fingers and throw it away. This procedure will result in your fingers getting messy and you will be saddled with the burden of wiping them clean after consuming the fruit. Monkeys who keep the stem in hand eat the bruised portion too and they never face any dilemma.

The people who hold the stem in hand and eat the banana have no other argument in favour of their action except that the monkeys do it that way and they are undisputed experts in this department. While this war goes on, the typical neutralists try to pacify both factions by peeling it from both sides and holding the white pulpy fruit in their hands looking as silly as possible. They look sillier when the slippery fruit dislodges itself from their hands and falls on the ground. Unlike other fruits bananas have a habit of gathering as much dirt as possible from the terra firma rendering it totally unfit for human consumption. But then neutralists all over the world have a habit of messing up even seemingly simple things and looking like a half brother of Laurel and Hardy.

Disposing of the banana peel is an equally debatable point. The consolation here is that every one agrees on its safe disposal lest it should land a hapless victim in the nearest orthopedic clinic!

Dear Cheeniya Sir

I enjoyed your post from the start till the end. I also eat the banana holding the stem only and I am particular in putting the skin inside the waste paper basket. In case I see any banana skin on the road I usually put it in the corner where people wont walk. When I was young once my grandmother had fallen on the skin and hurt her leg. So whenever I see the banana skin anywhere , where people can fall down I put it in the right place. I did not know that you can write such a nice article on eating a banana. You are really great.

I think I am the first one to give fb and lets see what others have to say.

Regards
viji

My Dear Sir,

Loved your bananology. The first thing I did after reading your post is to go to the kitchen and pick up a banana and eat and I guess you are right. The Darwin theory. But that doesnt end there , I see the proof of the theory when I see women nit pick. And men merely scratching themselves all the time. And well it has nothing to do with water scarcity. Another trait of the man proving the Darwin theory is " Bandhar kitna bhi booda ho jaaye Gulaati maarna nahin chodtha".

Sir I really dont mind eating bananas anyway, but I love the nandriyapazham stewed and really sweetened with jaggery.

Good blog Sir. Enjoyed reading it.

Love,
Your Mol

I do know monkeys enjoy banana as their delight yes we also do to some extent but to add my observations to dear sirs cheeniyas how we hold the banana and peel and eat it well i have seen people holding banana in both hands opening the skin and eating in one go if it is a smaller one , i have seen my mother in law opening the skin making it into pieces with a knife putting in a plate and eating peice by peice relishing it, i have seen making people cutting it by hand and throwing it into their mouth as it shouldnt touch their lips but direct into their throat, i have seen kids biting it and eating , i love it in banana split icecream , my son loves his banana milk shake , my aunty puts milk and sugar in banana and relish it, no fruit salad or custard is complete without banana most of the fastings have banana as the satisfying portion ,dieters like me have to avoid banana :((, ayurveda is almost revovling around bananas and banana leaves and my dear charles darwin would have to now observe how bananas are eaten i am more concerned about banana in facials and the most popular one for dull,dry,dehyadrated face ,banana in fruit massages for pedicure and manicure and as a hair and body mask too all the peels are definetly into dustbin but they are also dried up powdered and added to many of the cosmetic ingredients like hair care products most of the henna we get in market has banana peels as an adulteration or additive Drowning now banana is big subject you see
p.s: i was away out of hometown for over four months to do a course and am back thanks for your concern and regards wish you a banana restricted diet ;)

Sri,

I know many of us would have come across the news of the Darwin's 200 birthday, only you could come with a blog and that too on eating bananas.

Well, I have seen my son eating both ways. and the rest of my family eats the normal way.But I don't eat a banana as I am allergic to them.

Thank god, for small mercies, or our etiquette specialists will mint money out of how to eat the banana too.

Well lot of things show that we are related. but as dawin had said, , "from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved”, I wish evolution also has a cycle that lets us go back to being a better human being by erasing all that negative that has got embedded in the character of a human from the long journey.

Well I don't eat bananas..but go bananas over my friends, children and a good read .

Dear Sri,
Who ever imagined that my post on demystifying the complicated procedure of deseeding a pomegranate will be followed by your complicating the procedure of eating the simplest of fruits - a banana!!
You have sought the help of Darwinism as well!!
Normally, whichever end we peel from, one tends to bite & eat a banana.
After marriage, once when I was eating it that way, Vish gave me a "you too?" look. Needless to say, I was quizzed & a little ashamed as well. He mentioned that I was eating a banana like a "m----y"& one must peel, break small segments from the fruit with the hand & put in the mouth! Ofcourse, thereafter I stopped eating bananas (in my way) if he was around, is a different story!
Now, Sri, rush & in your typical style, justify your friend's statement or method!!
Love,
Chithra.

Dear Cheeniya sir,
You sent us into peels of laughter as you virtually taught us a lesson on how to peel a banana! Whether we are the descendants of Simians or not, certainly we are a class apart when it comes to sense of humour!
Enjoyed relishing the banana and loved Chithra's fb and Devika's too! And who could refute Darwin's theory with so many fbs supporting his theory?
Love,
Malathi

Dear Viji
Thanks a lot for being the first to write a FB to this post!.Nice to know that you belong to the majority when it comes to eating the banana the wrong way! But your compassion and concern for your fellow human beings can be seen from the care you take in disposing of the banana skin.

I have an uncle who is now 90. He used to become furious whenever he saw a banana skin lying on the platform and would invariably kick it off the platform to the side. Once when he attempted to kick a skin off the platform, he did not position his foot properly and he slipped on it. He was limping like Sakuni for a whole month! Thereafter, he never kicked a banana skin but would gently pick it up and deposit it in a safe place.

When you say 'where people can fall down, I put it in the right place', I presume that you would put it where no feet will tread. Some put it deliberately on the path way to watch the fun. Or they may be agents of some bone specialists!
Sri

My dear Mol
I am glad that you had to eat a banana to reaffirm your simian connections. Eating a banana is a more decent proof of our ancestry than nit picking or scratching.

But have you observed the look of ecstasy in a monkey's face while eating a banana? Some of them even shed tears of joy but in our great effort to outgrow our simian traits, we have lost the ability to savour the simple pleasures of life in a manner we should. I have even seen some people eating a banana with a grumpy face as if they are under some kind of a duress.

I too have acquired a taste for the baked 'nendrampazham' but I must confess that the process did take a while. In the beginning I loathed it. Then I became indifferent to it. Finally, I told myself 'Why not?' Now I love it! It only goes to prove that we can acquire a taste for anything and everything if we have an open mind!
sri

Dear Radha
A friend of mine once told me that a person's character could easily be judged from how he ate a banana. Your FB only proves this point! I must say that you are extremely observant particularly of people eating banana. I too find it a great joy watching people eating it. People who cut a banana into small pieces and eat them from a plate are too sophisticated for my comfort. God certainly did not make banana so easy to handle for us to use a knife and fruit fork to attack them. At the same time, I hate people who shove the entire peeled banana into their mouth and become grotesque to look at. They do not understand the elementary principle that while eating something, the mouth should have enough free space to work on the fruit or whatever food material. An overloaded grinding machine will just not perform its allotted task!

Banana's use as a cosmetic is news to me. It only goes to show that banana remains a mystery even after six and a half decades of dealing with them. Thanks for sharing this info with me. I'll apply some banana today on my head instead of eating them. I could certainly do with some hair on my head!
Sri