{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0452290082?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"0452290082","authors":["Dan Koeppel"],"book_id":"9780452290082","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780452290082","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780452290082.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","description":"In the vein of Mark Kurlansky's bestselling Salt and Cod , a gripping chronicle of the myth, mystery, and uncertain fate of the world’s most popular fruit In this fascinating and surprising exploration of the banana’s history, cultural significance, and endangered future, award-winning journalist Dan Koeppel gives readers plenty of food for thought. Fast-paced and highly entertaining, Banana takes us from jungle to supermarket, from corporate boardrooms to kitchen tables around the world. We begin in the Garden of Eden—examining scholars’ belief that Eve’s “apple” was actually a banana— and travel to early-twentieth-century Central America, where aptly named “banana republics” rose and fell over the crop, while the companies now known as Chiquita and Dole conquered the marketplace. Koeppel then chronicles the banana’s path to the present, ultimately—and most alarmingly—taking us to banana plantations across the globe that are being destroyed by a fast-moving blight, with no cure in sight—and to the high-tech labs where new bananas are literally being built in test tubes, in a race to save the world’s most beloved fruit.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780452290082","publication_date":"20081230","publisher":"Penguin Publishing Group","slug":"banana","subtitle":"The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World","title":"Banana"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"BUS070010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Agribusiness","score":0.7379,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"BUS070120","confidence_band":"medium","label":"The Food Business","score":0.7247,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037080","confidence_band":"low","label":"21st-Century History","score":0.6733,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"BUS070010","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Agribusiness","score":0.7379,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"BUS070120","confidence_band":"medium","label":"The Food Business","score":0.7247,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037080","confidence_band":"low","label":"21st-Century History","score":0.6733,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"BUS038000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Labor & Workforce","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"BUS070010","confidence_band":"high","label":"Agribusiness","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037000","confidence_band":"high","label":"World History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Agribusiness","score":0.7379,"slug":"agribusiness"},{"label":"The Food Business","score":0.7247,"slug":"the-food-business"},{"label":"21st-Century History","score":0.6733,"slug":"21st-century-history"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Agribusiness","Good for readers interested in gifts","Good for readers who enjoy Agribusiness and The Food Business."],"related_lists":[{"intro":"","slug":"shelf-bus070120-food-industry","title":"Food Industry Books","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/lists/shelf-bus070120-food-industry"}],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Raj Patel"],"book_id":"9781612191270","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781612191270.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":16.3661,"title":"Stuffed and Starved","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781612191270"},{"authors":["Liz Carlisle"],"book_id":"9781592409563","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781592409563.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":16.0144,"title":"Lentil Underground","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781592409563"},{"authors":["Will Harris","Penguin Audio"],"book_id":"9780593300473","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593300473.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":15.8868,"title":"A Bold Return to Giving a Damn","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593300473"},{"authors":["Amanda Little"],"book_id":"9780804189033","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780804189033.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":14.4279,"title":"The Fate of Food","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780804189033"},{"authors":["Paul Newman","A.E. Hotchner"],"book_id":"9780767929974","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780767929974.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":13.8826,"title":"In Pursuit of the Common Good","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780767929974"},{"authors":["Jerry Strahan","Jerry E. Strahan"],"book_id":"9780767903240","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780767903240.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":13.652,"title":"Managing Ignatius","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780767903240"},{"authors":["Paul Roberts"],"book_id":"9780547085975","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780547085975.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":13.6449,"title":"The End of Food","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780547085975"},{"authors":["Eric Schlosser"],"book_id":"9780547750330","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780547750330.jpg?v=20260402T191500Z-bisacv2site-fullset%3A2026-04-05T16%3A15%3A58Z","score":13.6233,"title":"Fast Food Nation","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780547750330"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:business"],"label":"Business","score":0.134,"slug":"business"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:economics"],"label":"Economics","score":0.0594,"slug":"economics"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:central america"],"label":"America","score":0.0564,"slug":"america"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:food"],"label":"Food","score":0.0481,"slug":"food"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Business, Economics, America.","Reading lane: Agribusiness and The Food Business.","Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":468,"goodreads_ratings_count":5429,"goodreads_reviews_count":684,"quality_score":0.9625}}