I Found This on the BBC today. It's agood question -- banana or Kit Kat bars as a snack?
I wonder what Canadian Olympic speed-skater Cindy Klassen of Winnipeg thinks? I covered her cycling at the 2000 Canada Summmer Games in New Brunswick.
I wonder what Clara Hughes, another native Winnipegger and cyclist, would say?
This is just a pic to take up space...
This too....
Not this though...
Snack stand-off: Banana v KitKat
Bananas and KitKats
By Denise Winterman
BBC News Magazine
Gordon Brown is reportedly weaning himself off his four-KitKats-a-day habit and is now eating nine bananas instead to get fit for the election. So which is the best snack?
From chocolate-coated wafer biscuit snack to the bendy that comes with its own packaging - the prime minister is reportedly changing his snack of choice.
Gordon Brown
Brown makes his allegiance clear in the two v four fingers debate
It's been reported that Gordon Brown habitually ate three or four KitKats a day until his wife put her foot down and nudged him on a healthier diet.
Downing Street will neither confirm nor deny the PM's switch in snacking allegiance. "The numbers are a matter of speculation," says his official spokesman, who does, however, add that bananas help ensure "good health and radiance".
Both are giants of the snack world, but how do they measure up?
THE GREAT SNACK STAND-OFF picture of a banana picture of a kitkat
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
105 in a medium banana (CalorieKing) 230 in a traditional four-finger bar (Nestle)
FAT
0.4g fat (1% daily recommended intake)/0.1g sat fat (1% daily recommended intake) 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.
CELEBRITY SPOTS
Lionel Blair
Lionel Blair Girls Aloud's Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Cole
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 Katso" 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(That's about $300m Canadian less in theU. S.).
But there has been a long-running international trade dispute, with tariffs on some countries that produce the fruit for European markets. KitKats were 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.
Wow Chris, lots of statistical info there - some of it very interesting. I think I would have the best of both worlds and have Kit Kat on Mondays because they are Mondays and on "decadent" Fridays. I would take the bananas on Tues to Thurs for a clear conscience.
ReplyDeleteI like Kit Kats, but then again, I like most chocolate candy bars--particularly 3 Musketeers and Almond Joy. I like breaking them into bits and mixing it in with a hot bowl of oatmeal. I do the same with bananas.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't like the bananas that are sold in grocery stores--they taste bland and awful! My favorite type of bananas are the small, naturally sweet kind, not the genetically engineered ones they sell in supermarkets.
I was surprised to learn that some people call the small sweet bananas Lady Finger bananas. Those small sweet bananas are too fat to be any lady's fingers!
OH sure, now I'm hungry for a Kit Kat. Thanks a bunch... ;-)
ReplyDeleteDog: I'm with YOU!
ReplyDeleteErosWings : Good points. Up in Canada, unless we want to pay a mint, we always buy regular bananas. A banana is a banana is a banana in my books.
Laurie: Sorry!