Bananas, a portable delicious snack. Both of my grand parents were involved in banana farming on the island. Money from selling bananas is what fed the family for decades. Bananas were our main cash crop, till the industry turned to cheaper producers from South America. These producers were able to cut production cost by exploiting empoverished workers to a below living wage to work and live on their Banana farms. These producers also didn’t think twice when clearing achres and achres of rain forest to grow bananas, leaving rain forest animals homeless.
Exploiting our people and animals is not our style in the Caribbean; so we were quickly replaced by cheaper producers as most of our lands were protected eco-tourism destination, not destined to be cleared to grow crops.
Recently, our competition has been feeling the pinch of empoverished under-paid citizens who are desperate to leave South America for North America to seek a better life as asylum seekers. When you eat a banana think about what the cost it was to produce it; social and human costs.
Once bananas go brown, most westerners put it in a banana bread. I don’t know about you, but I am all ‘banana-breaded-out’. Over Covid-19 lockdown it seemed to be the main staple for board bakers. What do you do with your brown bananas?
I slice them and freeze them for creamy and cold banana smoothies. Freezing the bananas means you don’t need to add ice to your smoothie, less water more flavor. I make my smoothie with coconut milk, nutmeg, vanilla essence and honey to sweeten.
You can also make a bunch of other smoothies that require bananas with your frozen banana; but nothing beats a banana smoothie made with a frozen sweet ripe banana.
- 1 Frozen Banana
- 1 Cup Coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- pinch of nutmeg
- 3 tbsp Honey
- 1 scoop of vegan vanilla ice-cream (optional)
Blend your ingredients together in your favorite blender till smooth and creamy.
I avoid the dairy in my smoothies if I can, to lower the amimal fat content and reduce the bloat that some of us get from consuming milk or cheese. This recipe has honey in it, but can be replaced with a plant based sweetener to make it Vegan.
Enjoy a refreshing Banana smoothie, Bon Manger!
Grande Mangeur 