Lady Lunchalot

I’m ecstatic. The most exciting staple in the world has recently arrived back on Australian shelves after almost a year away.

Yes, it’s that luscious golden fruit - the banana!

Australia spent most of 2006 largely bananaless after a cyclone tiptoed its way through the top end of Australia with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, wiping out 95% of the country’s banana crop. Australia won’t import bananas from other countries, so we saw prices skyrocket up past $16 a kilo. At that price, those sunshine-yellow crescents may as well have been made of gold.

Yes. We had no bananas. (Sorry, couldn’t resist).

‘Nanas are beloved by just about everyone, so we all felt their absence. Old people with no teeth. Teenagers who have just had their braces tightened. Schoolkids who transform their school bags into petri dishes with mushy brown ones leftover from lunch last month. Multi-tasking mums who can mash them with a fork in one hand while strapping a baby into a high chair with the other. Hungover office workers who crave them in a smoothie the morning after a big night out. Ok, maybe that last one is just me.

After Cyclone Larry flexed his muscles up north, bananas disappeared from cafe and restaurant menus around the country. No more banana pancakes, muffins, smoothies or cakes. No banana bread. No banana chips or banana ice cream. No more golden discs of sweet banana to cool a hot mouth after a spoonful of curry.

In short, the banana had split.

But now they’re back! With prices back down to a more palatable $3 per kilo, banana lovers no longer need to sell their first-born to get a bunch of those yellow beauties in their fruit bowl. And what better way to celebrate the return of our favourite fruit than with a Banana Sunday!

On Sunday 11 February I invite banana-lovers from around the world to take part in Banana Sunday and celebrate the return of the prodigal banana to Australian fruit bowls with a banana-fest. Where? Right here at Chez Lunchalot!

How to Take Part in Banana Sunday

1. Prepare your favourite banana recipe and post it on your site.
2. Email me a permalink, your name, a summary of your dish and a photo by Sunday 11 February. You can get me at ladylunchalot at iprimus dot com dot au.
3. I’ll post them all here by Monday morning, when we can all go bananas.

If you haven’t got a blog to post your dish on, just email it to me anyway.

Happy peeling and Go Bananas!