Do You Ever Buy Irish Bananas?
The day after the most recent St. Patrick’s Day I went to buy some bananas. My local store only had green ones, and it struck me that they must be Irish bananas in honor of St. Patrick.
I turned that observation into a joke, asking friends if they every buy Irish bananas. After they look baffled for a few seconds, I say, “They’re the green ones, but they don’t stay Irish long, they emigrate.”
A quick web search reveals that Irish bananas are a real thing. There are many recipes for a dish called Irish Bananas, and the Irish Times newspaper has published a short history of the company that first imported bananas to Ireland, in 1900. There’s even an article about some bananas actually having been grown in Ireland under special conditions.
Still, I think the idea of Irish bananas being the green ones is a good joke and one that has relevance for cases of cultural enmity. After a couple of hundred years of disharmony and denial, many Irish people now seem to agree that Irish Green bananas can go well with Irish Oranges.
