Banana, Banana, and Banana

Banana is one of the most common tropical fruits found everywhere in Thailand. Besides its incredible tastes, bananas appear in a variety of uses; from the famous Thai cuisine, to utensils, to the religious belief… Discover the importance of banana and its organs applied in the Thai society that you might not have ever known.

Fruit

Banana is full of vitamins. It is considered as a great source of B6, manganese, vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber, potassium, biotin, and copper. Creamy, rich, and sweet, bananas cherish cardiovascular heath, digestive benefits, and athletic performance.

In Thailand, you will find a huge number of kinds of banana. For example, Cavendish banana, Lady Finger banana, Pisang Awak banana, Lebmuenang banana, and Musa balbisiana (Kluay Nam Wa), etc… They are cheap and can be found in the market or even in any convenience stores.

Food

Raw banana or the green banana that usually tastes astringent-like is usually used in many salad dishes. Its special taste goes along very well with spiciness from the chilli. The stem part or banana stalk is also used as a vegetable in soup. Moreover, the banana blossom is what many use to side with salad or just eat it with their favourite dish, Pad Thai. Interestingly, we can eat almost all parts of the banana tree.

Dessert

Known as a fruit used in many dessert dishes, banana is used to make both hot and cold Thai desserts. To name, we grill, fry, boil, and dry bananas in the sun to make dessert. What is more, sometimes we eat them with syrup or coconut milk and even with sticky rice…

Decoration

The leaves are used to make banana leave vessels– like a natural dish that does not destroy the environment. And if you are a fan of Thai festivals, you might have seen the banana leaves and stems used to make a floating basket decorated with flowers to pray the river on Loy Kratong day.

Toy

When plastic was not that cheap and technology was somewhere else, kids used to make toys from banana trees. For instance, a gun that can actually create noise and a little pony made from the stem. Toys from the nature…how cool is that!?

Expression

“Kluay Kluay” or “banana banana” in Thai is an expression used to describe that something is too easy, as easy as peeling a banana skin. You see how food has quite an effect on our life 😉

Ghost

In many Thai horror stories, we believe that there is a female ghost (Nang Tani) dressing in a traditional costume living inside the banana tree. She protects the tree and haunts people sometimes.