Ethnobotany of Pohnpei: Plants, People, and Island Culture

Chapter Four. Banana: An Essential Traditional Crop on Pohnpei

Lois Englberger Adelino Lorens Amy Levendusky Jeff Daniells chapter four Banana an essential traditional crop on pohnpei Banana, Musa sp., which includes plantain, is likely to be Pohnpei’smostwidelyusedlocallygrownfoodcrop(Bascom1965 ;Corsi2004;Englberger2003a,2004a;Fischer andFischer1957;Lorens2006;Raynor1991;Ward1989).While yamisthemostimportantcropinthetraditionalprestigesystem and breadfruit is considered by many as the most highly valued food crop, both of these are seasonal crops, separating the year intotwoparts,rekenleng(breadfruitseason)1andrekenpwel(yam season). Bananas, on the other hand, are harvested throughout the year, consumed by Pohnpeians almost on a daily basis. As stated by one community leader, “Life in Pohnpei would be difficult without banana” (Lorens 2006). Banana is eaten cooked and raw in the mature (green), half-ripe, and ripe stages, providing sustenance and enjoyment in a variety of forms. In addition, banana has many nonfood uses. This chapter focuses on information obtained from the main island of Pohnpei, where banana grows best and there is the greatest diversity of banana. However, banana is also an important crop and is highly valued on Pohnpei atolls (Ashby 1993b; Sacks 1996), where there are many distinct names and legends relating to banana (Bentzen 1949; Damas 1994; Harrison and Albert 1977; Sacks 1996). We also discuss the results of our nutritional studies of other local foods, as these are interlinked as part of the traditional Pohnpeian diet. Banana Diversity The diversity of bananas on such a small island is astonishing (Table 4.1; Fig. 4.1). Raynor (1991) listed fifty-five names of different banana cultivars.2 Bascom (1965) stated that there were forty-one banana cultivars growing on Pohnpei and gave descriptions for a number of these. Later writers also noted that 90 ethnobotany of pohnpei there are at least forty-one Pohnpei banana cultivars (Ashby 1993a; Merlin et al. 1992). The oldest known list of Pohnpei bananas is that by Christian (1899), who named Karat, Mangat, Tikahp, Utiak, Utin Iap, and Utin Wai. Hambruch (1932) visited Pohnpei in 1910 and presented names and detailed descriptions for twenty-three cultivars. Evidently Hambruch was impressed with the diversityoffleshcolorofPohnpeibananas ,ashespecifiesthisfortencultivars.3Many of the cultivars listed by Hambruch are still important today (see Table 4.1). In October 2003, a working group of about thirty Pohnpei farmers named the bananacultivarsthatarethoughttopresentlygrowontheisland,arrivingatatotal of forty-two cultivars (Englberger and Lorens 2004). Counting eight recently introducedbananasandsomecultivarsnotfullyidentified,thisindicatesthatthere arenowoverfiftydistinctbananacultivarsgrowninPohnpei.Daniells(2004)examined and identified the twenty-five banana cultivars growing at the Pilot Farm Genebank Collection in Pohnlangas,4 along with fourteen additional cultivars growing elsewhere on the island, specifying their internationally accepted names. Karat: A Carotenoid-Rich Cultivar Based on the discovery of the high nutrient content related to their deep orange and yellow-colored flesh (Englberger 2003a; Englberger et al. 2003c,d), Karat,5 the traditional infant food of Pohnpei, and other Pohnpei bananas have received Figure 4.1. Clusters of fruit (hands) of different Pohnpei banana cultivars, showing diversity in shape, size, and color. [LE] banana: an essential traditional crop 91 a great deal of international media attention (e.g., Augenspiegel-NetNews 2004; Coghlan 2004; Die Welt 2004; IPGRI 2004; Kuhnlein 2004; NutraIngredients 2004; VN Express 2004). A series of studies have shown that Karat and other Pohnpei banana cultivars have the highest known levels of provitamin A carotenoidcontentintheworldinbananas (Table4.2andEnglbergeretal.2003a). In one sample of Karat, the level of beta-carotene, the most important of the provitamin A carotenoids, was over a hundred times that in commercial banana samples analyzed in the United States and the United Kingdom (UK), which weremostlylikelytheCavendishbanana(UtinWaiinPohnpei),theprimarytype marketed globally6 (Holden et al. 1999; Holland et al. 1991). RelatedtothisanditshighculturalstatusonPohnpei,Karatwasnamedoneof the “three shining stars of the traditional food galaxy” in a global literary review (Kuhnlein 2004) and was highlighted on a poster as one of fourteen nutrientrichindigenousfoodsselectedfromaroundtheworld (FAOandKuhnlein2004). At the same time, however, Karat—along with many other traditional Pohnpei banana cultivars—has become rare on local farms. This contradiction is common throughout the world, as so-called modern varieties of crops replace those grown traditionally by many generations of farmers, with those neglected varieties becoming rare in their centers of origin. Dietary Shifts and Nutritionally Related Disorders on Pohnpei The traditional diet on Pohnpei was once based on meals of cooked starchy staples , including breadfruit, banana, and taro, along with fish and other seafood, with fruits and sugarcane eaten as snacks and vegetables (other than starchy staples ) not commonly eaten (Bascom 1965; Englberger et al. 2003b; Hambruch 1932; Pollock 1992). This...