[bduerst]

Hmmm, unless people are buying bananas and throwing them out, the demand for bananas is real and not artificial. It's a little surprising you group the crop with manufactured consumables like trans-fats and HFCS.

Bananas are one of the oldest agricultural crops known to man (8000 BC) - there's no reason to "go bananas" about them.

[pyre]

The parent is probably referring to the fact that banana demand in the US was manufactured artificially, much in the same way as DeBeers marketing has made the diamond synonymous with luxury, marriage, etc.

There was demand for bananas before, but mostly as a local crop.