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There Will Be Bananas : Throughline 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.

Throughline

There Will Be Bananas

There Will Be Bananas

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  • A United Fruit Company official looks over looks over the harvested bananas to see which are fit for market in Honduras on Sept. 3, 1954.
    A United Fruit Company official looks over looks over the harvested bananas to see which are fit for market in Honduras on Sept. 3, 1954.
    AP
  • United Fruit's former headquarters in Costa Rica.
    United Fruit's former headquarters in Costa Rica.
    David Vargas
  • A United Fruit worker carrying bananas.
    A United Fruit worker carrying bananas.
    The New York Public Library
  • Minor Cooper Keith in 1917. He helped to build Costa Rica's railroad infrastructure and created a banana business that would eventually become United Fruit.
    Minor Cooper Keith in 1917. He helped to build Costa Rica's railroad infrastructure and created a banana business that would eventually become United Fruit.
    Library of Congress
  • Workers cut down the stalks of bunches of bananas in the Costa Rican town of Golfito in 1950.
    Workers cut down the stalks of bunches of bananas in the Costa Rican town of Golfito in 1950.
    Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images

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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.

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