Good Gumbo

It is probably one of the most famous desserts, no matter where you travel, you say, Bananas Foster and they know what it is.

Im ready to have it.

Ready to have it?

What the heck.

Lets do it.

What up yall?!

Im Phillip Lopez and Im standing right here on the banks of the Mississippi River.

This is one of the original sights of one of the biggest banana warehouses in the country.

Ships used to come up the Mississippi from South America and unload all of their bananas.

Im going to head over to Commanders Palace and talk to Ti Martin were eat some Bananas Foster, and talk about the history and politics of bananas.

This is Good Gumbo.

Hey Chef whats going on man?

Whats up Jus?

Enjoying the view?

Yeah!

Bananas here in New Orleans has a cultured past- positive and negative.

This is the place where it actually happened.

Yeah.

We are here at the Arrato Street Wharf.

It looks a lot different today than it did a century and a half ago.

I hear there is a guy who ended up in New Orleans and was the biggest and most influential banana exporter kind of guy Yeah, Sam Zemurray.

Sam the Banana Man came to New Orleans.

His family immigrated from Russia.

He made his fortune in the banana trade as head of the United Fruit Company, one of the world's biggest fruit companies at the time.

Very, very wealthy, - he built the famous house now used by The President of Tulane University.

His banana empire was very controversial in Honduras and Guatemala.

--- where he had a lot, most people say too much, influence on governments and businesses --- that is where the term banana republic comes from.

There is this long history, this long relationship between New Orleans and places like Honduras because of the Port and when bananas come along it becomes a much closer relationship.

This was part of the life blood of the city.

And right here was an important place for tropical fruit because this is where United Fruit had this big automated facility that opened in 1908, 1910.

Before that, if you can imagine, unloading a cargo of bananas from the bay of the ship.

You would have a chain of man, a bucket brigade, handing a stock of bananas from man to man out the ship and onto waiting wagons.

These were the longshoremen, the Banana Handlers Union.

This was very important to making New Orleans what it becomes Thats such an awesome name, The Banana Handlers Union.

Of course all these bananas inspired one of New Orleans most famous desserts, Bananas Foster.

Ti, you and I have known each other for a while.

We have.

And this is probably one of my favorite restaurants in the whole city.

This place means home.

This place means New Orleans.

You have this personality that just lights up the room.

Oh youre sweet.

But the Bananas Foster that you guys serve here, lights up this room as well.

So where did this Bananas Foster come from?

So one day my family had started at the Absinthe House, good Irish people, start with a bar.

They then moved across the street and were running the Vieux Carre restaurant.

My Mother was brand new in the business.

Her brother Owen was there.

And he comes in one day and he says to Ella, he called her kid, and he said Hey Kid, Im doin a dinner to honor my friend, Richard Foster.

He is the new head of the vice commission and we are going to do a dessert and name it for him.

And she said no we are not.

I dont have time for that.

You told me to do the inventory.

And he said, Kid, Dessert, Tonight.

To honor Dick Foster. So off she goes running around.

And the matre de was a man named Frank Bertucci.

He said what the heck is the matter with you, Ella.

Owen said I have to create this dessert for tonight and I dont know what the hell to do.

And there are literally cases of bananas just lined up on the wall.

And so she said, Im thinking Im going to do something with bananas. He said, they got all these desserts around the corner at Antoines and Arnauds that they flame.

And she said, Youre right!

Lets flame somethin! So they just start messin around.

So they sauted the bananas like their mother would do with the butter and then said, Lets add rum to flame it!

What the heck, lets add Banana Liquor too!

You know, it will smell good, it will flame! And well have our dessert to compete with Baked Alaska, which they didnt think was much of anything you know.

So that is what happened.

And they served it that night and his name was Dick Foster.

So they named it Bananas Foster.

How good does that look, Yes Dig in.

Look at this... How bout them apples?

Girl.

How bout them Bananas (laughter) Heres to my Mom, and my Uncle, and Mr. Foster.

Heres to you.

Thanks for coming!

Thank you!