Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Addendum to the Previous Post: That's no banana.

So the "bananas" I bought have stayed green for a week now... And tonight before class I decided I would just eat a non-ripe banana.  When I go to peel the "banana", the stem SNAPS off, not allowing me to peel said "banana".  So, treating it as a normal banana, I decide to just try to peel it without the stem as an aid.  Then a layer of fibrous material is peeled away, but still the banana is not peeled.

So I get a knife, of course....This is ONE TOUGH BANANA. I don't care though, because Im hungry and a banana is the "perfect fruit".  I cut it open...but the skin wont peel away from the "banana" inside...so I cut it away...of course... Im determined to eat this banana, ripe or not.

I bite into the "banana".  This is no banana. And don't even patronize me and say "it's a plantain".  No. This was no plantain. This is some sort of cucumber/potato-ish vegatable disguised as a banana!  How do I eat this? WHAT IS THIS!?

So I take it to class to ask the professor what this is... Because he is Grenadian.  "Dat ees a Plugo" he says... "you cook it in soup or fry it up in a stew"...

But when I google Plugo... or anything like it (because let's face it, I may have not have heard him correctly), Google has nothing.  And even when I search "vegetable that looks like a banana" Google insists that this is a plantain.

Like I said. This is no plantain...and That ain't no banana either.

I will give $10 EC to the person who correctly identifies the following vegatable, and gives me a method of preparation (with cited sources):

2 comments:

  1. Dearest Leila,
    After much searching through various scientific journals, it is highly possible that the word you heard was "Bluggoe" which is a popular genomic relative of the banana and plantain. It is used popularly for cooking/juice. You can reference it in this scientific article: http://www.biovisioneastafrica.com/publications/BIOLOGY%20OF%20BANANAS%20AND%20PLANTAINS-BZ%20Jul07.pdf

    Also, here is a blog with how to cook bluggoe and it's status as a popular Grenadian dish: http://roundunvarnishedtale.blogspot.com/2008/10/grenada-cuisine-bluggoe.html

    I'm bananas about you,

    Neethi

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  2. NEETHI!!! you win $10EC or ....3.75 american. IM so proud of you and your committment to my adventure abroad.

    MUCH LOVE!!!

    Leila

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