May 06 2010
Houseguests & bananas
Bananas? Again? On our first hour of the quest to stick with foods that have been raised “locally“, my boyfriend and I came face-to-face with what may be one of nature’s most complete foods: Bananas. As residents of Los Angeles, we don’t see too many locally-grown bananas. We’ve had a few plantain-like breeds…but a banana is a banana and there are no substitutes.
So as difficult as it’s been, we’ve so far managed to keep away from not only buying but also eating any that we’ve come across at friends’ homes. But neither of us had prepared for the yellow “come-eat-me’s” to appear on our own kitchen counter. Well, with the arrival of our house guests they did. You may already be judging us by asking yourself, “What kind of hosts are you that you’re letting your guests take trips to the market?” Well, that’s not what happened.
In fact, let’s backtrack. A couple of friends were due to stay with us for five days while they surveyed some plants in the Santa Monica Mountains. (They’re both biologists from the University of Florida.) Anyway, as hard working scientists, they would leave the house around 7am and return between 6-9pm. One day prior to their arrival into Los Angeles, I hit our local Co-Op in search of food for our guests. I had planned our dinners and figured they could enjoy our farmer’s market bread, butter and peanut butter (not completely local but from California). We had just received our produce box from Abundant Harvest Organics…so we were set in that area; at least for 2 meals. But these guys were meat-and-potato lovers. So I needed to find some solid food.
I managed to walk out of the store with several packages of locally-produced tempeh, humus, and a few bulk items (rice, dried fruits and snacks). Everything seemed to be in order. And even though I had never eaten or bought anything like it, I did sneak a package of salami to prove that we’re not trying to impose our beliefs on them.
Well, things were going great until one day, my friends showed up with a few bags from Trader Joes. The first thing they took out? Yellow, scrumptious bananas (organic but again, from Ecuador). Luckily, my boyfriend wasn’t home and I was able to empty the compost bowl before he arrived. But I believe I watched every bite they each took of their perfectly-ripened bananas. And as much as I tried to resist saying something that would make them feel uncomfortable…I had to share with them our attempts at being locavores. I’m not sure they really understood why we were depriving ourselves of anything so good…but I think it answered their questions about the uniform meals we had provided up until then. They probably had their year’s-share of tempeh.