Plantains are versatile, nutritionally very important in various parts of the world, and often delicious. But they tend to get a bad press, because what’s the point of a banana — well, any fruit, really — that’s not sweet, right? Here’s a case in point: travel editor goes to Dominican Republic and disses national dish. Pass the patacones!
Here’s to narrow-mindedness.
One thing: what is a plantain? Believe me, I’ve asked all the top bananas I can, and not one of them has been able to give me a definition that would allow me to decide whether an item is a banana or a plantain. And this — “If it looks like a banana but is treated like a potato, it must be a plantain” — from that article is simply laughable.
I’ve always figured that it’s a question of genome composition: if it’s got a B genome or two thrown in there it’s a plantain, if it’s all A genomes, then it’s a banana.
Not that I got that anywhere official…I think it’s just the definition I made up for myself, but it generally seems to hold. Not that it’s necessarily easy to use when you’re standing in a market or looking at plantation of them.