The World of Bananas in Hawaii: Then and Now

by Angela Kay Kepler

Winner of the 2012 Ka Palapala Po‘okela Award for Excellence in Natural Science

The World of Bananas in Hawai‘ Then and Now ―unique, comprehensive, colorful, authoritative, readable and with over 1,900 color illustrations―culminates nine years of exhaustive library research coupled with painstaking field and agricultural investigations in Hawai‘i and other Pacific islands. It is the first book about bananas in Hawai‘i and a major contribution to Hawaiian culture. It is also the first attempt to trace banana/plantain evolution within the Pacific. Truly a “banana bible,” it is written in highly accessible prose embracing a broad array of topics. Lavishly illustrated, it covers virtually every edible and inedible banana in Hawai‘i, Polynesian introduced and international, including the spectacular ornamentals and fe‘i.

The World of Bananas reflects a deep respect for Hawaiian oral history and esteemed post-contact literature, reviving long-forgotten traditional foods, chants, crafts, and everyday clothing woven from bananas. As a result of Angela Kepler’s 30-year Pacific-wide ecological research, readers will encounter original ideas (e.g., how migrant seabirds likely guided Marquesan seafarers to colonize Hawai‘i) and delight in the multihued tapestry of true-to-life banana tales from the nebulous dawn of Hawaiian history to the present (e.g., the rediscovery of legendary banana groves). The authors shed fascinating new light on Hawai‘i’s little-known “pregnant” banana, mai‘a hāpai, and resurrect a long-forgotten minor goddess, Hina-‘ea, whose curative mai‘a lele banana once healed vitamin A deficiencies in children.

Interweaving extensive original research with judicious gleanings from a tiny worldwide network of banana specialists, this book provides new, dependable, and pictorial descriptions for 140 living varieties and 22 kinship groups, illustrated keys separating similar cultivars, hundreds of name synonyms, and information on pesticide-free care and maintenance, nutritional deficiencies, and troubleshooting pests/diseases. The mouth-watering recipe chapter includes savory dishes such as banana mayonnaise and meat-plantain casseroles.

612 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 2011

About the author

Angela Kay Kepler (b. 1943) is a New Zealand-born naturalist and author. She is a graduate of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and has a master's degree from the University of Hawaiʻi and a doctorate from Cornell University, New York in 1972. She also undertook a one-year post doctoral position at Oxford University.
She has conducted research in Hawaii, Alaska, Russia and the Caribbean. Two bird species have been named for her: the elfin-woods warbler (Setophaga angelae), a Puerto Rican endemic; and the extinct Hawaiian rail Porzana keplerorum.
She has a farm on Maui and grows some 32 different banana varieties.

Reviews

[Leo W.]

Beautifully illustrated and informative book that covers not only traditional Hawaiian varieties, but also includes vignettes on varieties popular elsewhere. Excellent treatment of diagnosis of nutritional deficiencies and disease.

I found the work often very repetitive and found the intermingling of folk tales, amateur anthropology and real horticulture tiresome. That said, there is vastly more to like here than not.

[Gerald Kinro]

Kepler and Rust’s ten years of labor resulted in a work not just beautiful, but monumental. It is complete as can be expected. It can be divided into the following sections: Banana’s history in Hawaii, Native Hawaiian culture and bananas, classification and varieties, uses, including some recipes; and horticulture. I found it fascinating reading, for I have not seen, much less heard, of many of the banana varieties discussed. With its beautiful color photos, the work could serve as a table-top book. However, with its wealth of information, it will better serve as a reference for horticulturists, historians, those interested in Hawaiian culture, and those who appreciate bananas. If there is a weakness I feel that it is in the organization and structure of the very first sections of the book.