Charles Plumly Food Review First Period

Review of "Chocolate Covered Bananas" by Charles Plumly

To be honest, I did not expect much from this simple dish on the menu at "Restaurante Locale." However, my mind was changed the moment I took a bite. I suddenly realized that Cacao, the plant from which chocolate comes, first traveled from the Americas to Europe as part of the Columbian Exchange. As I continued to eat, I continued to think. Something about the chocolate reminded me of Christopher Columbus, who first brought Cacao beans back to Europe after his time in the Americas. A smile spread across my face as I fondly thought of Montezuma, the Aztec King who drank chocolate from a golden goblet. As I enjoyed the chocolate exterior of the dish, I imagined how it would feel to be a Cacao bean on the way from the Americas to Europe. I pictured sailing from central America to modern day Spain. Upon arriving at Spain, I become a popular drink for the wealthy before spreading across the rest of Europe. What a historic ingredient!

 

Just when I thought the dish couldn't get any more historical, I tasted the banana. Upon taking a bite, I asked myself, "how did bananas get to the New World, and what route did they take?" As I sat chewing, I pictured bananas as they first came from Africa to Europe. Those poor bananas must have been very confused in this unfamiliar territory, at least until they were eaten. However, Bananas were not native to Africa. They actually came from Southeast Asia to Africa as a part of the Indian Ocean trade routes. The bananas made it to the New World as a Cash Crop (A crop produced more for commercial use than sustenance). I grin broadly as I consider the journey that the banana has traveled.

As I sat happily eating my historical chocolate covered banana, I considered something else. As a direct result of the Columbian Exchange, new diseases were introduced to the Americas. These new diseases, as well as the brutality of the European invaders, wiped out between 50 and 90 percent of Native populations. These two ingredients start to taste bitter. The dish tastes outright terrible as I realize that the Columbian Exchange introduced new species to the Americas which upset the natural ecosystem and led to the extinction of many species.

I cannot decide how to rate this dish, as I am not sure that this snack is worth all the death and suffering it caused.

But it was still pretty good.