If it seems like bananas got a glow-up this summer, you’re right. Already the No. 1 fruit in the world, bananas are leveling up with banana drinks, snacks, and fashion. It’s peak bananarama, and America’s loving it.
I’m not just talking about the banana cream fries set to debut at this year’s Iowa State Fair. (But banana pudding with whipped cream and crushed vanilla wafers over warm funnel cake fries, call me.)
“It’s one of the last nonpolarizing foods in a polarizing world,” Rob Smithson says of the fruit. He founded the banana water brand Banagua, made with organic heirloom Thai bananas. “Every demographic, every age group, every culture all over the world loves bananas.”
Whether or not they’re primed to inspire world peace or take over titans of flavortown like pumpkin spice, Dubai pistachio, matcha, and whatever’s still trying to make “swicy” happen, bananas are ripe for the picking … and also the sipping, dipping, and styling.
So, what are we working with here, banana-wise? Well, this ain’t your meemaw’s banana bread. The banana flavor trend got its start on TikTok (where else does food come from?) with the aggressively viral #BananaLatte.
@feliciaaveklew Trying the viral banana milk coffee in Seoul 🇰🇷🍌☕️ #7eleven #7elevencoffee #seoultravel #7elevenviral #viralcoffee #bananacoffee ♬ original sound – 조나 아키 Jonah Aki
Deriving from a DIY mix of Korean Binggrae banana milk and coffee over a cup of ice, this creation inspired major brands to jump on the bandwagon. Most notably, leveraging bananapalooza for your caffeinated convenience, Califia Farms is launching a highly anticipated organic banana creme almond milk coffee creamer and a ready-to-drink banana creme almond milk latte. Where did the brand get the idea for this sweet and clean addition to the plant-based sector?
“It’s not some newfangled thing. It’s banana,” Califia Farms chief marketing officer Suzanne Ginestro says. “It’s pretty all-American and pretty mainstream.”
Maybe it’s a familiar fruit, but there’s an art to turning regular old bananas into something all of America feels compelled to post to Instagram.
Starbucks may have secretly stopped stocking fresh bananas, but it boldly entered its banana drink era with iced caramelized banana lattes, banana oat espressos, and banana velvet lattes in the U.K., as well as iced banana cream protein matchas on this side of the pond. Banana is also the limited edition “flavor of the season” at Dunkin’, where you can add new banana syrup and cold foam to your favorite drink, including the monkey business cloud latte that also features buttery pecan.
Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co. now cans Bourbonola bourbon and banana seltzer, and Waterloo jumps in with Banana Berry Bliss sparkling water. Olipop originally created its Banana Cream soda as a limited “Minions” collab in 2022, but after selling out in weeks, the flavor hit regular rotation.
On the even sweeter side, banana nut bread M&Ms squeeze the essence of a fresh-baked loaf into a single chocolate-coated peanut candy. And Bamba peanut butter snacks now come in banana. Over in the protein-maxxing aisle, Barebells Banana Bread protein bars make macros taste like dessert, Equip’s Banana Prime and Animal’s Banana Split protein powders lend the mixable flavor of the moment, and you can chug Chocolate Banana Rockin’ Protein Max straight from the fridge.
Prefer to wear your bananas? Flamingo Estate’s got you covered with Oaxacan banana body balm, Rhode offers a caramelized banana lip balm, and you can elevate your toes with a creamy, frothy banana latte pedi. Go to Hawaii in your mind with Nette Mochi Banane perfume that smells like tropical bananas, vanilla, and living your best life.
Not that into bananas? Not to fret, you’ll be Team Bananas soon enough. First, you’ll notice some new banana thing (or whatever, who cares) and scroll right on by — no sweat. But after seeing it a few more times (the golden rule of marketing involves at least seven meaningful interactions), you’re suddenly fiendishly adding family-sized bags of freeze-dried bananas to your cart. Just like that, you’re that banana person. (We won’t count the 17 million times I’ve said “banana” so far as part of the scheme.)
Highlighting the fruit’s nutritional versatility, researchers are now even introducing banana purée into the neonatal intensive care unit, using it to thicken breast milk and better nourish the tiniest among us. (Big Banana, getting them while they’re young.)
But this is more than a trend; it’s part of a possible revitalization. A movement akin to a fruit-forward renaissance, or … bananaissance. Like a phoenix rising from Kroger using its floppy little banana peel wings and NSFW silhouette, the banana swerved its own extinction. We could be living in an international banana desert right now if it weren’t for the creative pivot of the food we most convincingly pretend is a phone.
The banana we know and love is the Cavendish. The one we lost along the way was called the Gros Michel, or “Big Mike.” It seems Mike was too good for this world, succumbing to Panama disease by the 1960s. Its cousin, the Cavendish, sounding like a snobby breed of racehorse from East Hampton, is mostly in it for the long haul. It’s also extremely vulnerable to disease since genetically cloned and seedless fruit is typically meh for, y’know, surviving plagues. The only way to keep the banana vibe going is to ditch agricultural monoculture.
“What I would love to see would be, when you walk into a supermarket, is that still the bananas are right there front and center, but there are ten different ones,” Queensland University of Technology tropical crops and biocommodities director James Dale says. “Bananas would go from the world’s favorite fruit to even more favorite.”
Still, the bananaverse has massively expanded since Maurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped banana art sold for $6.2 million.
French-Swiss pastry chef Amaury Guichon’s chocolate banana sculpture is the colossal opposite of pastry chef Eunji Lee’s trompe l’œil baby banana dessert at Jungsik in New York City — and I’d take a bite outta it. If you’ve never been to a Savannah Bananas game, you’re missing out on serious bananatainment — especially if you’re not that into actual baseball. But shoutout to Dr. Jean’s trailblazing “Banana Dance” (AKA the viral “guacamole” song) that quietly began the earworm movement that, 16 years later, would bring us the “Chicken Banana” banger backing every random video on TikTok. When the banana train comes along, you don’t ask questions; you just jump on and dance.
Bananageddon may be on the horizon, but until then, we finally have Haribo banana candy at Dollar Tree. Where would we be without it?
***
This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
.png)
.png)
