Why Are Bananas So Cheap?

On this episode of Our American Stories, before modern televangelists, Aimee Semple McPherson used radio, stage productions, and Hollywood-style spectacle to bring Christianity to mass audiences across America. After arriving in Los Angeles during the 1920s, McPherson built Angel ...  Show more

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Mars became one of the most powerful private companies in America, it was a struggling family candy shop. Frank Mars had failed time and time again before his son, Forrest, stepped in with a bold vision and zero interest in playing ...  Show more

In the Watermelon episode, Chuck and Josh stumbled into a bit of little-known history about why artificial banana flavor doesn’t taste like bananas. Turns out it does; it just tastes like a banana you’ve probably never eaten.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

The banana is a staple of the American diet and has been for generations. But how did this exotic tropical fruit become so commonplace? How one Brooklyn-born entrepreneur ruthlessly created the modern banana industry and the infamous banana republics.See pcm.adswizz.com for infor ...  Show more

The banana is a staple of the American diet and has been for generations. But how did this exotic tropical fruit become so commonplace? How one Brooklyn-born entrepreneur ruthlessly created the modern banana industry and the infamous banana republics.See pcm.adswizz.com for infor ...  Show more

Bananas, the world’s favourite fruit, were first displayed in London on 10th April, 1633, in the shop window of botanist Thomas Johnson, editor for Gerard’s Herball. Despite societal taboos surrounding the banana's suggestive shape, its journey from obscurity to ubiquity was late ...  Show more