Susan Morgan, age 5, holds a bunch of bananas in Ponchatoula, La., in 1955. Susan was diagnosed with celiac disease and was prescribed a diet of 200 bananas weekly. AP hide caption

Workers unload bananas in New Orleans. Bananas Foster, one of New Orleans' favorite desserts, is a lasting legacy of an oft-forgotten chapter in the city's history: the banana trade, which spawned banana republics. Arnold Genthe/Library of Congress hide caption

One of the banana plants in the collection at the USDA's Tropical Agriculture Research Station in Puerto Rico. It's just one of many banana collections around the world that might just hold the key to stopping a fungus's deadly reach. Dan Charles/NPR hide caption

Reporters (left) interview the Aspen fellows during the session. Akash Ghai/NPR hide caption

Wilbur Sargunaraj tours the backwaters of Kerala, India. Wilbur Sargunaraj hide caption

Chiquita, whose bananas are found in markets around the U.S., has agreed to sell itself to a coalition of two Brazilian companies. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

Preparing traditional matoke, or plantains, like these in Uganda may one day involve bananas genetically engineered to be high in vitamin A. Paintarainbow/Flickr hide caption

A Costa Rican banana worker carries a stalk of freshly harvested fruit on a plantation in Costa Rica, where many of the bananas that Americans eat are grown. Kent Gilbert/AP hide caption

A woman sells bananas at the Kampala Airport. Ugandans eat about a pound of the fruit, on average, per day. Ronald Kabuubi/AP hide caption

Some baristas swear that bananas can cure your coffee jitters, but the science just doesn't add up. Daniel M.N. Turner/NPR hide caption