Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 s-marrow Apr 17, 2009 20:12:33	Two questions: A. What do you think is the best way to peel a banana in preparation for eating it? B. What culture, if any, did you learn this from? I've always wondered if the method of peeling a banana had a cultural influence or just varied from individual to individual. Yes, this may seem like a random question, but it is one of those random questions I have wondered about for a while and haven't really seen a fit time for asking people. Humor is welcomed of course, but if you wouldn't mind tacking an honest answer on as well, I'd be very appreciative. So I say: A. I like to peel bananas from the opposite end of the stem because it makes it easier to separate the banana's three segments. B. I was ignorant that a banana could be peeled in this way until a Zimbabwean showed me.
#2 pigknight Apr 17, 2009 20:14:17	(Insert crude "banana" joke here.)
#3 powercat Apr 17, 2009 20:36:21	I peel starting at the stem. More specifically, I peel the stem over the outside of the banana's curve.
#4 doneisi Apr 17, 2009 21:07:53	Peeling is for the weak! I eat my bananas whole, peel in all, in one bite.
#5 midnitepoison Apr 18, 2009 2:42:15	from the bottom up (end opposite the stem) thats how my mum taught me when I was a little girl
#6 cherubaddon Apr 18, 2009 2:47:24	I was taught to break off the stem to the side, peel it down three quarters of the length, peel down the other segments as well, eat those upper three quarters, then take out the rest and eat it in one bite. Works well, except with very young bananas, where breaking off the stem is quite difficult.
#7 That_Blasted_Somoflange Apr 18, 2009 5:35:32	Meh. It won't be a problem for much longer. Bananas are a dying species of plant. They've been modified over the years to not have seeds, so it is harder and harder to plant new tries, since there are no seeds in the fruit anymore. Isn't genetic engineering wonderful? Making everything sterile, but tasty.
#8 goblin_pride Apr 18, 2009 10:39:56	This topic harkens back to Liliput and Brobdignag. I wholeheartedly approve.
#9 awesome_dude Apr 18, 2009 16:28:19	I climb up into a tree and scream at anyone who approaches me, but I do not actually eat the banana.
#10 s-marrow Apr 18, 2009 17:52:34	This topic harkens back to Liliput and Brobdignag. I wholeheartedly approve. I'm sure Swift would too. Or maybe he would write a scathing satire about our insipid lifestyles. Or perhaps donate large sums of money to send us all to facility proper for our condition.
#11 Dark_Stryke Apr 18, 2009 21:19:03	I peel starting at the stem. More specifically, I peel the stem over the outside of the banana's curve. I peel this way as well. Dammit, now I want a banana*! - - - *inb4 obvious joke
#12 ADHadh Apr 19, 2009 5:26:27	Obligatory
#13 batshido Apr 19, 2009 7:57:30	I don't see how this is even a debate. It's one of maybe half a dozen things in nature that comes with it's own pull-tab for crap's sake. Pull, peel, eat. Period.
#14 s-marrow Apr 19, 2009 9:20:50	I don't see how this is even a debate. It's one of maybe half a dozen things in nature that comes with it's own pull-tab for crap's sake. Pull, peel, eat. Period. Ah, but this precisely illustrates the reason I made this thread. What is common sense to one person is not common sense to another. I am interested in what makes "common sense" common. It is common sense for most banana eaters from the southwest United States (who I specify because of my familiarity with them) that a banana is a fruit eaten by peeling from the stem. However, if this was truly the "natural" way to eat a banana, some interesting data arises. Involving monkeys, of course. All monkeys do not eat bananas from the stem, and all people do not either. By pinching the opposite end of a banana, the peel separates readily. Furthermore, by peeling the banana and pressing the end, you will find that the banana separates into three equal segments, making it the perfect fruit for sharing among three people (or monkeys). Perhaps debate was not the best word to use. For insulting your vocabulary, I apologize wholeheartedly. Perhaps you merely wished to express your opinion that this whole conversation was trivial. Perhaps it is. Perhaps all of the tiny differences that differentiate one culture from another are trivial. I certainly hope so. I am not, however, a person of great enough ambition to discover this answer. I would prefer if we could just socially, scientifically, and whimsically speak about bananas. And how one might peel them. Any takers?
#15 That_Blasted_Somoflange Apr 19, 2009 17:59:41	Obligatory
#16 awesome_dude Apr 20, 2009 5:00:23	I don't see how this is even a debate. It's one of maybe half a dozen things in nature that comes with it's own pull-tab for crap's sake. Pull, peel, eat. Period. You are stupid and wrong.
#17 ADHadh Apr 20, 2009 13:47:37	I see your Keanu Reaves and raise you some attractive young lady on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1WmQNrmsVs She appeels to me XD
#18 admiral_lourve Apr 20, 2009 13:50:44	What do you think is the best way to peel a banana in preparation for eating it? HAMMER TIME. B. What culture, if any, did you learn this from? HAMMER TIME.
#19 stealthmarmot Apr 20, 2009 16:54:53	You can PEEL bananas? No wonder I never got why people liked them.
#20 terronus Apr 20, 2009 18:00:44	Orange. (you guys glad I didn't say banana?) Someone had to.
#21 s-marrow Apr 20, 2009 18:16:08	I was wondering how long it would take...though, honestly, I thought this thread wasn't going to last past the first day out of lack of interest. Unenthusiastic response to the question (thanks to those who did), but apparently people like making fruity jokes. A noble right in it's own and interesting development. There's something to be learned from every action and reaction. I'll just call you guys Study Group E.
#22 terronus Apr 20, 2009 18:24:21	This is the OTT. Uninteresting, and often times 'blog' like posts, or off topic derailment (sorta like the forum) responses are common. I was on the same wave-length as you, and can't understand why threads with more merit come here to die *cry* But you know, despite me often being critical or cynical, I still always enjoy catching up on the first page of OTT and having a good laugh. Like an ongoing thread about how bananas are peeled.
#23 s-marrow Apr 20, 2009 18:37:18	Your sentiments as a humorous cynic are very appreciable by my standards. I would gauge myself as a jolly pessimistic idealist, so I completely understand what you mean. Or maybe not, but I have at least succeeded in deluding myself on the issue.
#24 delodarkmagic92132 Apr 21, 2009 15:15:11	I personally just peel from the top 1/2 way using the stem and then peel the rest halfway. I continue eating and peeling until the banana is gone, to me it seems like the easiest and best way. I have a funny story my 6th grade teacher told me about how when one of her relatives first ate a banana. They were on a boat coming over to America and when she she saw another passenger eating a banana she asked them what it was and asked if she could have one. Well not knowing what it was or how to eat it, she did the most logical thing and peeled the banana. Instead of eating the inside, she threw it out and ate the peel! To this day she has never eaten a banana since. Just thought that would be a funny story to share about how to eat a banana, the wrong way! ;)
#25 s-marrow Apr 21, 2009 16:28:20	That's a great story. Too bad about the resulting banana trauma, though. I read about a similar story in a book about Soviet Russia and the Iron Wall. A man traveling out of his home country for the first time, I think it was East Berlin, was given a banana. Not knowing what it was, he asked someone what to do with it and they told him to eat it. So he ate the entire banana, peel and all. Not quite the same, though. I believe he said it was the most delicious thing he had ever eaten. I'm curious now as to what sort of nutritional value a banana peel has and will now do some research on that. Edit: Seems as though the banana peel is actually cooked and eaten in some Asian cultures. I'll have to try out some cooking experiments now to see if its any good.
#26 terronus Apr 21, 2009 17:40:15	Well... two points. You can cook the peel and have it be tasty, I guess. I'd never heard of it being eaten whole, but have heard of it being ground into a powder for spice. Nutritionally, it is pretty much indigestible fiber that shoots through the body. The skin of corn kernels is similar, and so is the pith of a bell pepper.
#27 yellowdingo Apr 22, 2009 23:52:55	Version A: With a Knife, Cut both ends off and slice down the side once peeling as a single piece. Source: Father Version B: Break off at Stalk End and split the peel so the fruit protrudes through the split in the peel. Source: Mother
#28 s-marrow Apr 23, 2009 7:27:55	So, some people actually look at the second pages of the forum, huh? So...fried banana is so good. Anyone who doesn't know this is missing out. Especially fried and breaded. But fried banana with the peel still on?....sooo good. Just my opinion. Gonna look for some new ways to cook banana peels when I get some more bananas.