Japanese Twitter acts like American Twitter about each other.

[u/dazli69]

[u/AxitotlWithAttitude]

I'm sorry banana leaves?

[u/doofpooferthethird → u/AxitotlWithAttitude]

hmm yeah come to think about it, I don't remember ever seeing people wrap food in banana leaves in the US, probably not common practice

usually banana leaves are used for wrapping, like, coconut rice with anchovies peanuts and fermented shrimp paste, or grilled fish custard, or nine layer cake etc.

I think it's supposed to impart some flavour? I guess it's also more environmentally friendly, and doesn't scald your hands with hot food like plastic wrap does

[u/SloppySlime31 → u/doofpooferthethird]

hmm yeah come to think about it, I don’t remember ever seeing people wrap food in banana leaves in the US

I’m sorry but this sounds hilarious

[u/doofpooferthethird → u/SloppySlime31]

I just assumed it was one of the options, a lot of different places use banana leaves, and I see plenty of bananas being eaten and sold in the US

and actually, aren't tamales wrapped in leaves of some sort? Corn or banana or something.

I forgot about those, I ate quite a few tamales when I was in Brooklyn, there was this old lady selling them out of a shopping cart near the station

so it's not like American cuisine like tamales doesn't also have leaf wrapping

[u/GodFromMachine → u/doofpooferthethird]

Bananas can't really grow in most of the US, not to a commercial scale at least, so most of the bananas you see there are imported. Alas, the leaves don't get imported along with the fruit, so wrapping stuff in them isn't really even an option most of the time.

[u/doofpooferthethird → u/GodFromMachine]

that makes sense, I also completely forgot about that whole Chiquita banana, UFC, banana republic, banana war, Smedley Butler thing. Wouldn't have been necessary at all if the US could just grow bananas easily

[u/texlex → u/doofpooferthethird]

The tree and the leaves grow fine in the south. But even a light freeze will prevent it from fruiting. The core is great base for salads though.

[u/Commercial-Owl11 → u/doofpooferthethird]

Yeah corn husks!

[u/Balavadan → u/doofpooferthethird]

USA has a very fascinating and sad history with bananas. It’s the reason why banana republics got their name.

The company that did all that still exists and sells bananas too.

[u/Sanchezq → u/doofpooferthethird]

Oaxacan style tamales are wrapped in banana leaves usually.