Comments on: Just look at the gross banana recipes in this 1940s Chiquita Banana promotional cookbook

By: cjporkchop

cjporkchop — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 19:11:00 +0000

Banana curry with shrimp next to it doesn’t sound bad at all, to me. Neither do the battered and deep-fried banana chunks in the article’s slideshow. Or the banana with red currant jelly next to (what I presume is) turkey. (Wouldn’t be terribly far off from turkey with cranberry sauce, in my mind.)

The only thing that gives me pause is the banana with mint jelly. But I’d be willing to try it.

I think these recipes suffer more from unattractive pictures than really bad ideas.

By: Kaleberg

Kaleberg — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:36:00 +0000

Bananas are great in Thai curry. They’re one of the classic add on ingredients along with bacon, peanuts, scallions, shredded coconut and so on. In the US we have a thing against mixing sweets and savories, but it’s pretty common in a lot of cuisines. (Try General Tso’s chicken.) To be honest, it’s actually pretty common in a lot of US prepared savories which are loaded with corn syrup and salt.

By: seattlerebecca

seattlerebecca — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:23:00 +0000

Woo hoo! Boing Boing Doctorow Banana Post Achievement UNLOCKED!

Those pictures are soooo gross, but they do pass the Mull of Kintyre test.

http://kottke.org/13/01/the-mull-of-kintyre-test

By: McGreens

McGreens — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:17:00 +0000

They might look better but they certainly wouldn’t taste better.

By: brucearthurs

brucearthurs — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 08:49:00 +0000

I humbly submit that none of these recipes match the evil that is Liver Sausage Bologna Loaf.

By: Ian Wood

Ian Wood — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 08:36:00 +0000

Syphilis-related dementia, I expect. Don’t worry. It’ll be over soon.

By: Crubellier

Crubellier — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:32:00 +0000

This would appear to be an excellent example of a highly specific microgenre of sponsored cookbooks, in which most of the recipes boil down to ‘make an otherwise sane and sensible dish then put our product on/in/near it’.

By: pjcamp

pjcamp — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:20:00 +0000

Why am I thinking about zombie porn?

By: BonzoDog1

BonzoDog1 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:00:00 +0000

Once we sent the Marines in to get them, we had to do something with them.

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:13:00 +0000

Wikipedia has an upskirt photo of the Giant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Giant

“The Valley of the Jolly Green Giant” refers to the Minnesota River valley around Le Sueur. Today, just before dropping down into the valley heading south on U.S. Route 169 an enormous wooden sign of the Jolly Green Giant, along with Sprout, is visible with the caption “Welcome to the valley”. Since the sign pokes up through trees, it has become a source of minor controversy as it frequently frightens motorists. Sixty miles further south on Route 169, in the City of Blue Earth, Minnesota, a statue of the Jolly Green Giant is also open to public view. In 1978, the town of Blue Earth, Minnesota paid $43,000 to erect a 55-foot (17 m) fiberglass statue of the Jolly Green Giant to commemorate the linking of the east and west sections of Interstate 90. It was permanently erected on July 6, 1979, at 43°39′02″N 94°5′46″W. The statue attracts over 10,000 visitors a year.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:58:00 +0000

Oh, I don’t know about that.

By: sam1148

sam1148 — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:51:00 +0000

Old color prints and photos color shift with age—especially ones from the 50′s and 60′s. When they were originally shot they were probably spot on in color.

By: Jesseham

Jesseham — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:47:00 +0000

Yeah, I just had a similar thought – was all food gross back then or did they just not know how to light/shoot it?

By: Digilante

Digilante — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:38:00 +0000

Behold, the finest banana recipe your taste buds will ever encuonter. Directly from the veld of the old Transvaal:

- 1 or 2 bananas per person
- leave in a warm place until they are really ripe and starting to get black spots
- use a paring knife to make one cut through the skin along the shortest line from top to bottom (the “inside”)
- place on the outdoor grill/bbq/barbie/braai
- grill until skin is completely black and liquid comes out of the cut
- put on plate and use a teaspoon to mash the insides up
- pour in a shot or three of porto wine (or whiskey and then flambe)

By: Cameron Postelwait

Cameron Postelwait — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:25:00 +0000

not so far fetched after having bananas in most types of meals in brazil.

By: John Ryan

John Ryan — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:04:00 +0000

Bananas back then were much less sweet. Closer to a mushy sweet potato or a plantain. Still, mint jelly? No. Never, ever.

By: Akezys

Akezys — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:01:00 +0000

Seems like they tried to adapt bananas into plantains for culinary use… failing miserably mind you.

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:58:00 +0000

“Don’t worry, in two week’s it’ll fall off by itself!”

By: Shibi_SF

Shibi_SF — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:54:00 +0000

With curry sauce? Urk urk. do. not. want.

I’m glad that I wasn’t alive during the 40′s. Bananas with shrimp would have killed me on the spot.

(I don’t even like it when my bananas start to get brown spots!)

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:54:00 +0000

Plug in American blending machine won from some Yank last summer, some poker game, table stakes, B.O.Q. somewhere in the north, never remember now….Chop several bananas into pieces. Make coffee in urn. Get can of milk from cooler. Puree ‘nanas in milk. Lovely. I would coat all the booze-corroded stomachs of England. . . . Bit of marge, still smells all right, melt in the skillet. Peel more bananas, slice lengthwise. Marge sizzling, in go long slices. Light oven whoomp blow us all up someday oh, ha, ha, yes. Peeled whole bananas to go on broiler grill soon as it heats. Find marshmallows. . . ….
With a clattering of chairs, upended shell cases, benches, and ottomans, Pirate’s mob gather at the shores of the great refectory table, a southern island well across a tropic or two from chill Corydon Throsp’s mediaeval fantasies, crowded now over the swirling dark grain of its walnut uplands with banana omelets, banana sandwiches, banana casseroles, mashed bananas molded into the shape of a British lion rampant, blended with eggs into batter for French toast, squeezed out a pastry nozzle across the quivering creamy reaches of a banana blancmange to spell out the words C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre (attributed to a French observer during the Charge of the Light Brigade) which Pirate has appropriated as his motto . . . tall cruets of pale banana syrup to pour oozing over banana waffles, a giant glazed crock where diced bananas have been fermenting since the summer with wild honey and muscat raisins, up out of which, this winter morning, one now dips foam mugsfull of banana mead . . . banana croissants and banana kreplach, and banana oatmeal and banana jam and banana bread, and bananas flamed in ancient brandy Pirate brought back last year from a cellar in the Pyrenees also containing a clandestine radio transmitter. . .
-Gravity’s Rainbow

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:52:00 +0000

I'd say we're past the point where antibiotics would help. Banana slicer, stat!

By: Al Corrupt

Al Corrupt — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:50:00 +0000

Mint jelly and banana?
Good lord, NO!
I need a unicorn and banana smoothie chaser after seeing that..
Pro tip – Thinly slice banana lengthwise, shallow fry in macadamia nut oil till caramelised. Most awesome.

By: Ladyfingers

Ladyfingers — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:48:00 +0000

I dunno, I think they’d look a lot better if they weren’t suffering from ye olde colour syndrome.

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:31:00 +0000

I don’t think that green spunk would ever look right on a banana.