bananas

Economy

Peacock, potassium and other Paris Olympics Indicators

5:32pm July 26, 2024

Indicators of the Week is BACK, and this time, we're going for the gold! (...In educating our listeners on the economics and business stories behind the Olympics.)

In this Olympics-themed episode, we'll learn what economic factors help countries win more medals, how NBCUniversal is betting on these games to support its streaming service, and what it takes to feed 15,000 hungry athletes. (Hint: A LOT of potassium. And pain au chocolat. And baguettes.)

Related Episode:
Why Host The Olympics?

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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A Colombian worker checks the plastic protection cover over a banana bunch on a plantation in Aracataca, Colombia. A dreaded fungus that has destroyed banana plantations in Asia has now spread to Latin America.

Devastating Banana Fungus Arrives In Colombia, Threatening The Fruit's Future

10:57pm August 16, 2019

by Dan Charles

A fungus that has destroyed banana plantations in Asia is now in Latin America. The disease moves slowly, but there's no cure, and it could mean calamity for the continent's banana industry.

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Mongee bananas reportedly sell for $6 each in Japan. Right now, they're very much a boutique crop.

A Banana Grown At Subzero Temps Also Has An Edible Peel

11:43am February 07, 2018

by Menaka Wilhelm

Banana crops aren't in the best shape, but new varieties could help. Japanese Mongee bananas debuted this winter, bred to be cold-resistant and pesticide-free. Plus, you can eat the peel.

Susan Morgan, age 5, holds a bunch of bananas in Ponchatoula, La., in 1955. Susan was diagnosed with celiac disease and was prescribed a diet of 200 bananas weekly.

Doctors Once Thought Bananas Cured Celiac Disease. They Saved Kids' Lives — At A Cost

2:39pm May 24, 2017

by Jill Neimark

In the early 20th century, kids with the disease faced severe malnutrition, even death. The banana-based diet doctors came up with seemed to cure them — but led kids back to foods that made them sick.

Workers unload bananas in New Orleans. Bananas Foster, one of New Orleans' favorite desserts, is a lasting legacy of an oft-forgotten chapter in the city's history: the banana trade, which spawned banana republics.

The Sweet Success Of Bananas Foster Has An Unsavory Past

11:16am September 30, 2016

by Meredith Bethune

One of New Orleans' favorite desserts is a lasting legacy of an oft-forgotten chapter in the city's history: the banana trade, and its infamous practices.

One of the banana plants in the collection at the USDA's Tropical Agriculture Research Station in Puerto Rico. It's just one of many banana collections around the world that might just hold the key to stopping a fungus's deadly reach.

Our Favorite Banana May Be Doomed; Can New Varieties Replace It?

9:11pm January 11, 2016

by Dan Charles

The Cavendish banana and other beloved varieties are threatened by a fungus that's spreading around the world. Scientists are trying to find new varieties that will be resistant to the disease.

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Our Favorite Banana May Be Doomed. Can New Varieties Replace It?

4:08pm January 11, 2016

by Dan Charles

The Cavendish banana and other beloved varieties are threatened by a fungus that's spreading around the world. Scientists are trying to find new varieties that will be resistant to the disease.

Reporters (left) interview the Aspen fellows during the session.

So You Like Bananas? Me Too! Our Speed Date With Global Activists

5:16pm November 11, 2015

by Jason Beaubien

It was a chance to meet — briefly — the new Aspen fellows, who are out to fix the world. We tried a light question to break the ice.

Wilbur Sargunaraj tours the backwaters of Kerala, India.

World News

India's Kerala Has It All: Beauty, Bananas, Long Life, Girl Power

12:24pm February 24, 2015

by Marc Silver

President Obama praised the Indian state last month for good reason. It's got beaches, backwaters and the country's longest life expectancy and highest literacy rate. Plus, girls outnumber boys!

Chiquita, whose bananas are found in markets around the U.S., has agreed to sell itself to a coalition of two Brazilian companies.

Economy

Chiquita Fruit Company Is Bought By Two Brazilian Firms

2:47pm October 27, 2014

by Bill Chappell

The Charlotte, N.C.-based company traces its roots to the 1870s, when American entrepreneurs brought bananas to U.S. consumers from the Caribbean.