Before telling you the story of the green bananas let me accentuate that I had a very happy childhood. My parents loved me very much and even we didn’t have options, I grew up a beautiful person.
Being under communism my first 12 years, I learned to deal with 2 or 3 options. Food, drinks, sports, traveling, etc. had only 2 or 3 options.
In the winter was skiing and in the summer was hiking.
Food was missing. Here are some photos of long lines to buy cheese or fruits or bread.
We had a revolution in 1989 and things started to get better. We start having lots of choices, but some of them very expensive.
Let’s go back to my green bananas story.
One day, my mom came from work and told my dad that they got bananas at the sweetshop. My dad said he will not go and stay in line because there are just a few cases and will not get any. We (the children) decided to go and wait in line. We wait for 2 hours and when we had 20 people in front of us the bananas finished. We came home crying our eyes out and we were so disappointed and mad. But that was our life. After a few hours a guy came to my dad with a small package. Inside there were 6 green bananas. It was the first time seeing a banana. I think I was around 10 years old.
My parents explain to us that we had to leave them in the closet in the dark to turn them yellow, but we were so impatient to eat that we couldn’t wait no more. So, I ate one green banana. It tasted so bad. But a green banana is still a banana and I needed that victory. Waiting in line for 2 hours for a 10 year kid to get a banana (my brother was 6) is not something I wish to anyone.
I remember, my uncle waking up at 4 am and wait in line with a small chair for milk every morning. The shop will open at 7 am. Bread, flour, oil and other food were on a ration book. At my grandparents in countryside, there were fresh fruits and vegetables in the garden, fresh eggs, milk, because people had lots of animals and birds around the house. So, spending my summer vacation there was like a dream. Food, freedom, play, nature and clean air. We use to eat in the morning, leave the house to play with other kids and comeback late in the evening starving to death. That was some great summer vacation!
Today, some wait in line for phones, some still wait in lines for food or water.
So, respect the food, respect the choices because some people don’t have any. Be tolerant, don’t waste food, and help others.
Even now, at almost 40 years old, I have fruits and vegetables I never tried. Don’t judge me if I still eat meat. I do it rarely, but I want to try as many different food as I can. Those years at the beginning of my life pushed me to travel around the world to meet people and see places, to discover food and sports that I never dreamed to discover when I was a child.
So enjoy life, food, drinks etc. Leave the moment and teach your kids to do the same.
Cooking Without Limits 
This is a beautiful story. You got me when you refused to be defeated because the banana tasted bad. Thank you for putting a smile on my face.
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this with us who have too much and often take it for granted. Bless you.
You are welcome
A good reminder to us all that we take so much for granted, especially our food. We live in such a 24/7 culture, that we forget the hardships of others. Thank you for sharing.
You are welcome
I’m new to your blog. Where did you live as a child?
In Romania
This story brought tears to my eyes – thank you!
You are welcome
Awesome story, kid. Thanks for the like on my post.
Peace be the Botendaddy
Thank you
this is a really nice story! Thanks. You keep coming and liking some of my posts, thanks for that. I visited your site several times & saw you have 15 million followers! so I didn’t bother. But now I will. I like your recipes and your style. Kind wishes, Tony
Thank you, Tony. Not 15 million yet, but working to get them 😉
Thank you very much for liking my blog.I had the opportunity to check yours and it seems very crude and interesting, please keep me posted, thank you again. salutări
You are welcome
Your post brought back a memory I had tucked away in the back of my head for so many years. During college I roomed with a girl from Bulgaria and we became fast friends. She had such an obsession with bananas because they were scarce in her country. Every time we went to eat she was always tucking a banana into her pocket from the cafeteria. A few months later she came home to my parents house over Christmas break with me and her reaction was such a glorious sight to behold. I will never forget her standing in front of the fridge for what seemed like hours looking at all the food. She just couldn’t believe it.
Growing up in America most of us have never known that feeling. It was an eye opening experience to see her view the things we take for granted as if she were opening presents on Christmas morning. She explained the situation in her country and it sounds so similar to your experience. She told me that their fridge usually only contained cheese, jam and bread. Which still to this day I will always love my toast with jam and cheese, a little something she taught me! Thank you for sharing your story!
You are welcome. Most of the East European countries had this food problem.
Thanks for visiting my blog. Here in Jamaica, we boil green bananas as starch to go along with other dishes. It is also cut into thin slices, deep fried, salted, packaged and sold as banana chips.
That is good information for me. Thank you
We eat green bananas in Jamaica. You keep it, then boil it with a little salt (as you would potatoes). We eat it with meats, fish or vegetables. Sometimes we keep it and blend it in a blender to make porridge (hot cereal). It’s healthy and quite nice when cooked.
Sounds great!
it’s just story from my childhood 🙂 All was the same, all these endless queues 🙂 I spent in them soooo much time! But my parents didn’t love my much, thought I tried to impress them with good school marks, housekeeping and tasty food 🙂
Sorry to hear that
So poignant. I will tag you on a green bananas recipe when I make one.
We fry them (they cook faster and absorb less oil than regular french fries), we stew them, peel and boil with a little salt then serve a creamy peanut butter sauce over them, mash them with potatoes, mash with lablab beans and serve alongside a hearty meat stew, So many different ways.
Thank you for your recipes
this is such a powerful story, thank you so much for sharing
You are welcome
Thank you for this post. I think you can understand why it frightens me so much to see Americans actually trying to shift toward Communism and also Socialism. Your post so eloquently explains why.
You are welcome
Reading this is especially appropriate for me right now. I have mostly managed to avoid food lines but when I going to the store, wondering if there will be flour for example, I still think of how much worse it has been for so many people. As a child my history teacher told me about waiting in line for apples that turned out to be mostly rotten. I like your strong spirit.
Thank you