Talk:Gros Michel banana

Not extinct
If it's not extinct, is there at least any information as to where it still exists? Djcartwright 06:13, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I added a couple of sources, including a very comprehensive Popular Science article. I read it over, and though it didn't say outright that the Gros Michel was extinct, it certainly left the variety in dire straits. --Magmagirl 14:37, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

I want one! Where can I get one? What do they taste like? Got a photo of one? Its weird that the pre-1950s banana was different than today's version and we will never get to taste the old one. Also our grandkids might never know what our banana tastes like. weird....

--Jon in California 4 Jan 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.127.73.9 (talk) 04:38, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Seems they do have Gros Michel in Rwanda (at least, available for research studies): http://www.bioline.org.br/request?cs08004 --Bcjordan (talk) 20:29, 17 July 2009 (UTC)


 * 8 years late, but I can answer a bit. Not encyclopaedic, so will not add to article.
 * Big Mike was a bit longer and straighter than the average Cavendish, from green it would take a bit longer to ripen to yellow, and from ripe would last much longer before going brown, at least a week IIRC.
 * More firm when ripe, a bit sweeter, much more of a "banana-ish" flavor. I thought there was something wrong with the new-style bananas that were showing up, they taste more like the wax bananas than a real banana. Big Mike was still available around here well into the 60s.
 * Per my information, Big Mike is not extinct, but not commercially viable since the fusarium disease spreads over long distance and trees need to be far (miles) apart to prevent contagion. Kid Bugs (talk) 22:22, 24 August 2015 (UTC)

Folk naming story
In Rwanda, all large bananas are known as "Gros Michel". I was told a story (independently from two people) about the origin of the name: a French visitor from outside of the country was walking with a friend, and saw a lady on the side of the street selling large bananas. He said to his friend, in French, "C'est gros, mon cher!" (it's big, my friend!). The lady selling the bananas thought that the bananas were known as "Gros Michel" outside of Rwanda, so she began saying "Gros Michel! Gros Michel!" to sell bananas when foreign visitors passed by, and, the story goes, the name stuck. --Bcjordan (talk) 20:29, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Genetic Engineering
Is there no one using genetic engineering to make a hardy strain of the Gros Michel? They put spider genes in a goat. No one's working on this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.2.5.101 (talk) 17:08, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

Short answer: politics and regulations. A long article about this can be read here: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/cavendish-banana-extinction-gene-editing --Nembabra (talk) 16:13, 2 December 2018 (UTC)

Would be better to modify the page to say "genetic engineering" instead of "genetic modification." Genetic modification has been occurring since the beginning of human agriculture and is how the Gros Michel was orginally produced. --Anonymous74.92.140.241 (talk) 21:17, 1 March 2020 (UTC)

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