> But somehow the English-speaking world ignores their existence. And it's not like they're exotic varieties you have to hunt down in rural areas or something.

Maybe because these banana breeds don't take lightly to the multi-week shipments required for bananas to be eaten in Europe?

Yeah maybe for Europe, but I'd think it wouldn't be too hard to plant them in Mexico and ship them to the US by truck.

Brazil's a big country too and it's not like all the bananas are grown an hour outside the cities or anything. These sit around in supermarkets, they're not delicacies you have to find at a farmer's market that go bad in a day or something.

I really wonder if the issue really is just lack of awareness. I can't count the number of articles I've read that basically lead you to think Cavendish is the only banana being grown at large scale anymore, when that's just not true.

Export markets are going to be defined by what can be traded in tonnages, not boutique luxury foods that are expensive and risky to ship, nor would any agriculture company risk the investment to cultivate them at scale for export from Mexico

They're not "boutique luxury foods", they're just normal fruit.

And here in NYC a lot of the produce I buy comes from Mexico at scale, including things like ripe cherry tomatoes grown in greenhouses that are much more "luxury" than bananas. But also just everyday papayas and avocados.

So given that so many fruits and vegetables are already cultivated at scale for export from Mexico, it's not clear why banana varieties are that different. To the contrary, all sorts of new fruit varieties are being invested in, grown and shipped from other countries. Just yesterday I bought cara cara navel oranges and blood oranges too from my normal average supermarket, which certainly weren't available here five years ago at an average store.

What do you think the definition of a "boutique" fruit is, exactly?

I would think it would have a lot less from being some actual boon from the gods and more a fruit in limited supply in the region of interest.

There are many different kinds of banana grown in North America. I ate them growing up in Florida. The burro banana and the red banana come to mind. But they just aren't as cheap as the Cavendish, which is one of the cheapest (if not the cheapest) fruits by weight period.

Being simultaneously soft enough to eat raw and durable enough to ship and store is really threading the needle. There are many varieties of plantain (it's hard) and many varieties of bananas that are hard to ship. The Cavendish is often the only fruit available at convenience stores, maybe alongside a few oranges, because it's just so darn convenient.

Thailand has many as well.

I’m often disappointed that here in Australia the Cavendish is so dominant. We do sometimes get Red Daccas, and lady-finger bananas but not a lot else. And can I find a fe’i? Nope…

Going to be trying to grow ice-cream bananas soon I think!

Maybe we need a new rule, like the one about medical advancements... in mice.

> nearly monopolizes the world’s banana groves and banana trade... in USA and Western Europe