Celebrating the Banana’s 125-Year Ethnic History

(Gerry Furth-Sides, photos noted when courtesy of DOLE)  (dole.com/125) The year’s list includes an extensive web and social media series of banana tips and recipes, digital downloads, engagement opportunities, competitions and ways to share banana memories. Bobby Banana, Dole’s 7-foot mascot committed to inspiring healthier living will also be making special appearances. 

Cheers for the perfect food: delicious, appealing in texture, healthy, and fun to eat. Plus it comes with its own wrapper.  

Brand new recipes just out are below in the links. The classic Dole Banana Bread recipe, still so popular, is included:

Classic Dole Banana Bread

Stuffed Banana Bread French Toast

Banana Pecan Monkey Bread

Banana Bread Batter Pudding

I am such a “banana believer” I eat half of one everyday. And still love them after decades. At the beginning of COVID when all fruit was scarce, I picked up couple of bananas under the trader joe’s corner rounder and felt like I struck gold. 

The DOLE story: The year was 1899 when three Sicilian brothers and their brother-in-law in New Orleans pooled their life savings and began importing bananas from Honduras to give Americans their first taste of an exotic new fruit from South America.Without knowing it, Joseph, Felix and Lucca Vaccaro, and Salvador D’Antoni, had laid the foundation for one of the world’s largest providers of fresh fruits and vegetables, Standard Fruit.

It would become part of Dole Food Company and the international popular DOLE^® Banana and the world’s most popular banana and one of the most-purchased grocery items in history. Before long, the four produce entrepreneurs were operating steamships, growing their own fruit and competing for the ice needed to ship bananas to a hungry and curious world.

A Dole Banana Hall of Fame will includes  restaurants, people and places who continue to have a lasting appeal on the iconic nature and universal appeal of the fruit.  There will be opportunities to join in on the Banana-versry conversation and share Dole and banana memories through #DoleBananaVersary.

Dole is an industry leader in many of the products it sells, as well as in nutrition education. For more information, please visit www.dole.com. For updated information on the Dole 125^th Banana-versary, go to dole.com/125. Use hashtags #DoleBananaVersary, #DoleBananas125, #BananasForTheFuture, #BananaVersary and #Fresh4Future to join in on the conversation.

Also, coming from a European family, one of my most exciting discoveries in college was in the cafeteria with banana bread! Dole has a must-try recipe for “Loaded Banana Bread on their website. Ingredients are mouth-watering AND the healthiest we have seen. They include the following:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1½ cups white whole wheat flour plus additional for dusting
• ½ cup coconut sugar
• 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 5 medium very ripe DOLE^® Bananas, mashed
• ¼ cup almond milk yogurt alternative
• ¼ cup natural buttery spread with olive oil, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup crushed pecans

 And in the healthy eating and living category, it felt so natural when former Dole CEO David H. Murdock opened a 20-acre wellness center complex at the Four Seasons, Westlake. It was located adjacent to the Dole worldwide headquarters, making it convenient for visiting executives. (The headquarters building has since been sold).

“The goal of the institute is to promote a healthy lifestyle and teach people which foods will aid longevity,” reported Murdock. By taking a “medical vacation” at his hotel, guests are able to get a snapshot of their current state of health and advice from professionals on how best to prevent illness.

At the time Murdock “hoped to live well past the century mark.” He reached his goal in 2023.

Last but the opposite of least, there is the  The Dole Way, the company’s three-pronged global sustainability initiative. It is part of Dole’s progressive measures to the produce industry, consumers and the planet since 1899.  This ranges from the building of infrastructures and other important social support in communities for banana workers to advances in in research for conventional and organic farming. 

“As the global banana and produce industry has grown because of Dole, so too has our obligation to lead in the protection of people, food and nature for future generations,” reports Oldfield, director of corporate communications for Dole. “Our programs in water management, climate change, waste reduction, employee social equity and health and nutrition are helping to ensure another 125 years of DOLE^® Bananas and a happy, healthy global fanbase.”