Going Bananas!

Why are Queenslanders referred to as Banana-benders? What are bananas anyway?

Where do they come from? Read on and find out more about bananas and make you own decision..

Unlike many fruits, bananas can be picked green and still ripen properly. They start with simple supplies of starch stored in their creamy flesh, and this converts to sugar, giving full sweet flavour at the same time as the banana gradually softens. It is easy to determine the stage of the fruit. When the skin has a waxy sheen and is pale yellow or even slightly green at the ends, the flesh is firm and barely sweet. Bright yellow skin, still with some sheen and perhaps a small brown mark or two, means softer sweeter flesh and as the skin dulls and becomes more brown speckled, so the flesh ripens to luscious texture and aromatic sweetings.

You can speed the process by putting the banana in an enclosed bag with an apple or an orange or slow it or by putting the banana in the refrigerator which will cause the skin to turn black but won't harm the fruit. Bananas are popular with dairy products, custards, a glass of milk as a soothing snack, or with other tropical and semi tropical fruits, notably passionfruit with toasted nuts, toffee and crisp biscuits, good with plain yogurt, or served with icecream.


....	CAVENDISH: Developed last century (in the hothouses of the Duke of Devonshire, whose family name it carries) and easily the predominant variety in this country, accounting for 95 per cent of the Australian crop. A handsome, long, well-flavoured dessert banana that is also good for cooking. Gradually turns brown after cutting, but this can be prevented by the application of lemon juice.
	PLANTIAN: There are several varieties of plantain, the non-sweet banana whose floury-tasting flesh is cooked rather than eaten raw. Popular in Caribbean and Philippine cooking, and increasingly so here.
	GOLDFINGER: A new variety developed by crossing the dwarf lady finger with a diploid selection bred from the Asian banana pasang jari buaya, and one that you'll be seeing in the shops. Its virtues are good looks (the skin is bright golden, the flesh yellow), good flavour, not browning when cut, and a longer shelf-life - two to three days more than other bananas. It is soft-skinned and in hot weather should be stored in the refrigerator (the skin will turn brown, but the fruit will stay fresh and firm).
	LADY FINGER - (SUGAR) A short, fat banana from Brazil that accounts for most of the small percentage of the Australian crop that is not cavendish. Sweeter and tangier than cavendish, but a little inclined to astringency - always allow a lady finger to become fully yellow at the tips before eating it. Especially good for decoration or to use in salads as it does not turn brown when cut.
	BANANA BELL - BANANA LEAVES - The male part of the banana plant is a cone of red leaves enclosing yellow stems. The leaves of the bell can be sliced for salads or used for wrapping food to be baked (as can the ordinary green leaves of the plant). The stems in the centre of the bell can be sliced for stir-fries.
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	A few other varieties of banana are grown in small quantities for special markets such as Asian food markets, but are a rarity in most shops. You may sometimes see blue java, with silvery skin and bland, white flesh, mostly used in cooking; ducasse, the variety commonly eaten and used for cooking in Thailand, and the ideal one to use in Asian dishes; and red dacca, a red-skinned dessert banana whose especially smooth and creamy taste makes it perfect for a smoothie or banana split.
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bananabender... "We're a weird mob...!"

The majority of the Queensland household food budget is spent on meat and eggs. The second largest is spent on alcohol.

Each Queenslander eats 9.1kg of confectionery each year. About 70% of it is chocolate.

Queenslanders spend 20% of their food budget on eating out and takeaway foods.

Oranges are the most popular fruit for Queenslanders. Each Queenslander eats about 17 litres of ice cream and drinks about 80 litres of soft drink each year.

Queensland males have the second highest average daily alcohol intake from full strength beer of 36.6ml. Only Northern Territory males drink more, 48.1ml

Queensland males have the highest average daily intake of alcohol from spirits.

Average weekly household expenditure (with average 2.62 persons) in Queensland is $576. Main items are housing $81, food and non-alcohol beverages $103, alcohol, $18, tobacco $9 clothing and footwear $28, medical care and health expenses $26, transport $95, recreation $75 miscellaneous $47.

Queenslanders spend 2.68 percent of household income on gambling.

The average Queenslander visits the cinema four times a year, paying a total of $38. He or she spends $34 a year on theatre.

There are about 20,000 marriages and 10,000 divorces in Queensland each year.

Queensland women spend an average of $30 at the hairdresser every week, plus $80 every second month for a perm. Men pay $10-$15 for a haircut once a month.

Queenslanders are more likely to be go-slow than gungho; 40% of Queensland men admit they have a pot belly. More than a third of men and women take no exercise.

We have the highest average percentage of overweight and obese people of any state in Australia; 45% of us are overweight.

We drink a lot - of Queenslanders who drink 23% of men and 14% of women do so at harmful or hazardous levels.

We gorge ourselves on sweets - each person devouring 9.1 kg of confectionery each year, 70% of that being chocolate.

But are we any different from any other Australians, not only physically but intellectually and emotionally? Do New South Welshmen think that life is great in the Rustbelt State? Can you count on a Victorian? Does anyone south of the Tweed give a Fourex? Are we banana -benders really different from the cockroaches of NSW, the crow-eaters of South Australia or the sandgropers of West Australia? Well yes and no...

There is still a bit of the pioneering ethic in Queensland. Queenslanders are politically conservative and probably more suspicious of government than people in NSW and Victoria. There is a difference in attitude here to things like social welfare and education and the part they play in government. It probably relates to that aggressive individualism which is part of the pioneering state image and which affects attitudes to government help. Queenslanders are not a different breed but there is a basis for saying there are differences between Queensland the rest of OZ.

There is the State or Origin ethos and the hype surrounding the Sheffield Shield. Sport is a form of state patriotism and identification which is perhaps more important to Queenslanders than it is to people in southern states. It is noted that Queenslanders are higher users of books on a per capita basis, than people in other states.

Males can expect to live to 75 and females to 80.5 in Queensland, - diet related diseases costing the state more then $350m a year. Mackay, the Sunshine State and Wide Bay have the highest proportion of men with pot bellies.

Major causes of death are cancer and heart disease. 15.4 % of all deaths are directly attributable to smoking. Breast cancer is the most common cause of death from cancer. Queensland has the world's highest rates of malignant melanoma. About 200 die from this each year. Professionals have the lowest coronary heart disease rate - miners and quarrymen the highest.

BUT we love you all !!!!!