On Friday, October 31, 2003, at 04:12  AM, Stardust wrote:
>
> Banana (including plantain) belong to the genus Musa of the Musaceae
> family (monocot). They originate from Southeast Asia. They've been
> around for a very long time. The Greeks and Romans ate them too. I
> would think they'd qualify as paleo.
>

  Read recently about bananas. They are naturally very seedy and bitter.
The fruit we eat is believed to be descended from a single genetic
mutation about 10,000 years ago. I wonder who was the first to find
this tree and try the strange new fruit? Then they had to figure out
how to cultivate it. I can just see that person handing out samples to
his friends. What glee! From there it spread quickly throughout the
tropics.

So the banana is not paleo in the sense that it has been in the diet a
long time. Also it is always and only a cultivated fruit, there are no
edible wild bananas, and never have been except one time!