[Sca-cooks] plantain, bananas, herbals

[Terry Decker]

>>> ...all species of the Musa genus are indigenous to the tropical
>>> region of Southeast Asia. It's thought (again, citing Wikipedia)  that 
>>> Portuguese Franciscan friars are responsible for bringing the  plantain 
>>> to the Americas. FROM Africa.
>>>
>>> So, if that is accurate information (and yes, I know that's a BIG  IF), 
>>> that argues that plantains are Period for Southeast Asia,  Africa, and 
>>> the cute little territory that lies between them (Near  East).
>>
>> I don't follow that. The are period for Southeast Asia. They may be 
>> period for Africa, if the friars brought them to the Americas from  there 
>> before 1600. But how does that make them period for the Near  East?
>
> Because the plantain had to make it from Asia to Africa. There are two 
> ways of doing that: going through the Near East, or going by sea.
>

Bananas and plantains probably arrived in Africa via Madagascar and were 
transferred inland into the Congo and from there to West Africa.

> The presence of bananas in the Qur'an argues for them going through  the 
> Near East.
>

Bananas and plantains in Africa predate the Qur'an by at least 1000 years. 
It is believed they entered the African continent via water migraation 
between SE Asia and Madagascar.  There is some speculation that the Arabs 
encountered bananas through the slave trade in the Horn of Africa, however, 
I would point out that Arabs have been trading with South India since at 
least the 2nd Century BCE.  The Qur'an reference is very late in the history 
of Arabs and bananas having been written in the 7th Century.

Bear