Items

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  2020-03-31

  Banana Bread Madness

  Like a lot of people when the pandemic hit, there was a great deal of uncertainty. I didn't know how to function really, not teaching school, so like a lot of people, while thinking about my kids shortened year, I turned to baking. I tried Banoffee Pie and that was a huge faliure, but then , I stumbled on this Banana Bread recipe. I made upwards of 25 loafs in the months that follow. Every time I taste that sweet banana goodness, I think of how much I both enjoyed having that time (I mean, daily naps, what is there not to love) and how much uncertainty there was.
• 
  2020-06-09

  The Difference 12 Weeks Makes

  At the beginning of quarantine, myself and others were hopeful that the experience would be quick and relatively painless. It would be an opportunity to work from home, relax, and learn to bake bread that much better. After 12 weeks of a patchwork effort at the Federal, State, and Local levels people were restless. When George Floyd was murdered, people poured out into the streets to protest. Now, people have been radicalized and are ready to fight.
• 
  04/28/2020

  Google Searches for Banana Bread - on the news

  This is a screenshot of the Alan Kohler's finance report on the 7 o'clock news in Tasmania, Australia. Kohler ended a characteristically dire covid19 financial report with this graph showing a spike in Google searches for banana bread in Australia. Firstly, this gives an insight into everyday life for Australians cooped up at home and trying to stay entertained and feel productive. Since making banana bread is usually a way to use up overripe spotty brown bananas, it also speaks to the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in households at the moment with everyone minimising their grocery trips. Secondly, it's a nice visual of the phenomenon of "lockdown trends" - like zoom parties, sourdough and seedlings, the more that people posted their freshly baked banana bread on social media, the more others felt inspired to do the same. I also think this item reflects the urge of media producers to find light in the darkness and remind viewers of the novelties of lockdown life. Finally, I think this screenshot shows the surrealism of life in Covid19, a time when Google searches for banana bread are discussed alongside plummeting stocks in a finance report on the evening news and with our newly developed Covid19 intuition this strangeness has become a normality. #HUM403
• 
  2020-04-14

  Brennan's is Partial to Bananas But Promotes Bread Too, New Orleans, LA

  Brennan's Restaurant shares an article discussing why banana bread is the official comfort food of Coronavirus quarantine.