Where's your banana from?

Bananas are a staple.  Much as one cannot live without sugar, flour, salt, ketchup and mustard, every pantry must also have bananas.  And a wonderful thing about bananas is that you can get them year round, and pretty much all over the world.

I don't know when I became aware of the country of origin on my banana stickers, but I remember starting a collection of stickers in the late 70s, affixing them to the wood frame of my bulletin board at work.  I was curious to discover how many different countries my bananas came from and I was surprised to discover that my coworkers thought I was kooky for collecting stickers.  I was shocked, I tell you!  Me?  Kooky?  Nonsense!  I was disappointed to discover though, that my bananas weren't as worldly as I had hoped.  I collected a boatload of stickers, enough to cover the entire frame, but they all represented three countries; Panama, Ecuador and Costa Rica.  And while I'm not entirely sure, I may have since had a banana from Honduras or Guatemala, and I'm pretty sure all of my stickers were from Chiquita, Dole or Del Monte.

I am tickled and intrigued that my Parisian bananas aren't from Central America.  They hail from countries whose stickers are unknown to me.  I don't recognize their colors or brands (except one), and the countries all have an exotic flair.  So naturally, I started collecting stickers.  I am going to presume that all ya'll will not think I'm kooky for doing so.  After six months, I have discovered 5 different countries of origin:

Guadeloupe & Martinique - actually two Caribbean islands, both of which are Overseas Regions of France

Cameroon!  African West Coast, former French/British territory

Colombia - South America

Antilles - judging by the French flag motif of the sticker, I'm going to guess this means French Antilles which includes Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin, Saint Barthélemy, Marie-Galante and La Désirade in the Carribean

Cote d'Ivoire - a former French territory in West Africa

Bananas have always been a part of my life, and until now, I don't think I would have classified them as comfort food, but they are.  No matter where you are, or where your banana is from, you can count on a banana to look and taste the same.  There's comfort in that.

So...where's your banana from?