1
502 : a hurricane-damaged ship is forced to set anchor. Await-
ing repairs, its captain ventures into the lush rain forest and ex-
changes gifts with the native people. Upon his return home,
extravagant tales of gold along the “rich coast” set the stage for Spain’s
claim of what is now Costa Rica.
The voyage was Columbus’s last exploration of the New World. In
the end, rumors of Costa Rica’s wealth were just that: rumors. Five
centuries afterward, the most lucrative treasure leaving the country
was bananas, originally mass cultivated as a cheap food for workers
building a railroad to move coffee produced inland to the coast.
Bananas are the all-time most popular fresh fruit consumed in
America—a spectacular achievement considering that almost all ba-
nanas are imported.^ Stocked year-round in grocery stores from coast
to coast, their yellow curve appeal is everywhere. Their popularity has
made bananas a “loss leader,” priced to entice consumers into the
store so that they would buy other groceries. Ingeniously packaged by
nature, easy to peel with no sticky fingers, void of dribbling juices,Chapter 2
My Food, My Way
Pile it high. Sell it low.
— King Kullen, first supermarket opened in Queens,
New York, 30Kevin D. Walker, The Grand Food Bargain: And the Mindless Drive for More,
DOI 10.5822/ 978-1-61091-948-7_2, © 2019 Kevin D. Walker.