fe'i banana

Fe'i bananas are cultivated varieties (cultivars), rather than wild forms. They are distinctly different from the much more common bananas and plantains derived from Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. All members of the genus Musa are tall herbaceous plants, typically around 3–10 m (10–33 ft) tall or even more. Although they appear tree-like, the "trunk" is actually a pseudostem, formed from the tightly wrapped bases of the leaves. At maturity each pseudostem produces a single flowering stem that grows up inside it, eventually emerging from the top. As it elongates, female flowers appear which go on to form fruit – the bananas. Finally male flowers are produced. In cultivated bananas, the fruit is usually seedless and the male flowers sterile. Fe'i bananas can be distinguished from other kinds of cultivated bananas and plantains in a number of ways. They have highly coloured sap, pink through to bright magenta and dark purple. The bracts of the flowering spike (inflorescence) are bright shiny green rather than dull red or purple. The flowering and fruiting stem is more or less upright (rather than drooping), so that the bunches of bananas are also upright. Ripe fruit has brilliant orange, copper-coloured or red skin with orange or yellow flesh inside. It has prominent ridges, making it squarish in cross-section.

Fe'i bananas are mainly found from the Maluku Islands (Moluccas) in the west to French Polynesia in the east, particularly the Society Islands and the Marquesas Islands. They have been important both as a staple and as a ceremonial food, although their cultivation and use has sharply declined in recent decades. As the Pacific Islanders spread by canoe throughout the Pacific, they took Fe'i bananas with them; cultivation has been traced back to around 250 BC in the Marquesas and to around 800 AD in Tahiti in the Society Islands. They are believed to have originated in the New Guinea area, where cultivars with seeds occur, as do the wild species from which they are thought to be descended.

Fe'i bananas are generally eaten as "plantains", i.e. they are usually cooked rather than eaten raw. They have been described as "delicious and nutritious when baked or boiled, especially if the slices are swathed in fresh coconut cream." They have also been described as "unpleasantly astringent" unless cooked, having higher proportions of starch and lower proportions of sugar than other kinds of banana. However, in the Federated States of Micronesia, some cultivars, particularly 'Karat Pwehu', 'Karat Pako' and to a lesser extent 'Utin Iap' (='Uht En Yap'), are commonly eaten raw when fully ripe. Karat bananas have a soft texture and a sweet taste and were a traditional weaning food in the Micronesian island of Pohnpei. In countries where Fe'i bananas were once a major food item, there has been a shift away from eating traditional foods towards eating imported foods. Bananas with whiter flesh are preferred over traditional varieties with deeply coloured flesh. One issue with Fe'i bananas is that eating them causes the production of yellow coloured urine, thought to be caused by the excretion of excess riboflavin present in the fruit. This effect led people to believe that Fe'i bananas might not be safe to eat, particularly for children. Along with the shift away from traditional foods, there has been a rise in vitamin A deficiency. …

Fe'i bananas are an important component of ceremonial feasts in the Marquesas and the Society Islands. Karat bananas are reported to be one of the few kinds of banana that can be used in ceremonial presentations in Pohnpei, Micronesia. A Samoan legend is that the mountain banana and the lowland banana fought. The mountain banana – the Fe'i banana – won. Filled with pride at its victory, the mountain banana raised its head high, whereas the defeated lowland banana never raised its head again. (Fe'i bananas have an upright fruiting stem, whereas the fruiting stem droops in other kinds of banana.) The bright orange-red colours of Fe'i bananas make them attractive to artists. The French Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin visited the Society Islands, including Tahiti, towards the end of the 19th century. Three of his works include what are considered to be Fe'i bananas: Le Repas (The Meal, 1891), La Orana Maria (Hail Mary, 1891) and Paysage de Tahiti (Tahitian Landscape, 1891). Fe'i bananas were one of the main staples of Liv Coucheron-Torpand and Thor Heyerdahl during their one-and-a-half-year stay on the Marquesan island of Fatu-Hiva in 1937–38. Heyerdahl reported that Fe'i bananas grew all around their cabin on Fatu-Hiva, while on Tahiti they had only seen Fe'i bananas growing "in almost inaccessible cliffs."