[Sca-cooks] plantain, bananas, herbals
Terry Decker
t.d.decker at att.net
Wed Sep 2 05:00:46 PDT 2009
>>> ...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
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list