Chocolate and Froot

February 10, 2010

Today, I awoke and felt horrible. I was exhausted and achy and just all 'round ill. As my day was uneventful and filled with bad daytime telly, I don't have a question based on the events of my activities. However, I did have my regular read of the Beeb and it gave me an answer to a question that has plagued me for decades yet have not ventured to ask. Today's question is: side-by-side, what are the difference in various aspects, of a banana and a Kit Kat bar?

A: This post is another cop-out as the answer, although interesting, was re-printed (without permission) by the BBC. Regardless, here it is:

THE GREAT SNACK STAND-OFF

POPULARITY
The United Kingdom's best-selling fruit by far: 231 bananas eaten every second on average.

The UK's best-selling confectionery brand: 47 KitKats are eaten every second on average.

CALORIES
There are 105 in a medium banana (CalorieKing)

There are 230 in a traditional four-finger bar (Nestle)

FAT
The banana contains 0.4g fat (1% daily recommended intake)/0.1g sat fat (1% daily recommended intake)

The Kit Kat contains 12g fat (18% daily recommended intake)/7g sat fat (36% daily recommended intake)


HEALTH BENEFITS
Rich source of potassium, essential for good blood pressure and heart function, and fibre. A medium banana has roughly 400mg of potassium, 11% of your daily recommended intake and 3.1g of fibre, 12% of your daily recommended intake. Also helps regulate blood sugar levels and slowly release energy.

Not brimming with vitamins and minerals, but has some calcium - good for bones and teeth - and iron, good for blood and transporting oxygen around the body. One four-finger bar provides 6% of recommended daily calcium intake and 8% of recommended daily iron intake. Also has 1g of fibre.

DOWNSIDES
Unripe bananas can cause constipation. High fibre content means eating too many can cause bloating and wind.

Gives a sugar rush but not very filling. Even has 0.1g of trans fat, the food nasty that is bad for the heart.

SATISFACTION
Limited satisfaction - it's simply fuel for most people. The banana experience can be spiced up if thrown in a fruit smoothie, or baked in a tasty muffin, but the latter is not so healthy.

Mmmm. Good mouth-feel. And snapping off a finger can be a very satisfying sound, particularly if it is the sound of friends sharing the snack. Rare all-chocolate finger is bliss.

VARIETY
Comes in three sizes - small, medium or large. Colour, texture and taste varies as the banana ripens from woody and green to mushy and nearly black. Dried banana chips add an extra frisson to the selection.

Four fingers or two. Chunky. Dark chocolate. White chocolate. Mint. Orange. Caramel. Cappuccino. Apple (Japan). Hazelnut (Germany). Even banana flavoured in Canada. The list goes on and on...

FOLKLORE
Fishermen associate bananas with bad luck. One popular theory suggests this is because venomous spiders hitched rides in banana crates - and once onboard would bite and kill crew.

Parents in Japan swear by KitKats when their youngsters are taking exams. The phrase "Kitto Katsu" apparently translates as "you will surely win". The bars are often given as a good-luck gift.

DANGERS
A slip on a banana skin is painful and very embarrassing.

Dunkers run the risk of burning their actual fingers on hot beverages.

CULTURAL IMPACT
The banana-skin slip has been a comedy classic for generations and across cultures. It's made the world laugh.

It's a global chocolate bar, that cuts through cultural differences. The world shares the UK's love of KitKats.

PORTABILITY
Easily battered about and squashed. Can look obscene in a trouser pocket.

Flat and slips very neatly into pockets or bags, but easily melts and snaps.

HISTORY
Mentioned in Buddhist texts in 600 BC. Alexander the Great discovered the fruit in India in 327 BC. Organised banana plantations could be found in China back in 200 AD.

Launched in 1935 and was originally called Chocolate Crisp. From 1945-47, sported a blue wrapper when plain chocolate was used due to milk shortages after the war.

ETHICAL CREDENTIALS
One in every four bananas sold in UK supermarkets is now Fairtrade, with sales topping £150m. But there has been a long-running international trade dispute, with tariffs on some countries that produce the fruit for European markets.

The four-finger KitKat was certified as Fairtrade in the UK and Ireland in January 2010. Although parent company Nestle does have a chequered reputation for ethics, with consumer boycotts over the years because of its promotion of baby milk formula in Africa.

THE GOD FACTOR
Christian activist Ray Comfort says bananas are proof of God's existence - they are so perfectly suited to our hands, God must have created them expressly for our benefit.

A Dutch website reported last April that a man had claimed to have seen the face of Jesus in the centre of a KitKat Chunky he had just taken a bite out of.

Source:
BBC News - Snack stand-off: Banana v KitKat