: Re: Sometimes a banana is just a banana Often reading analyses of books and films, I find that the analytics derive conclusions from the specific food or beverage that a character consumes. The

In thinking about this, the Cavendish banana is a specific cultivar of bananas in general, and there are a wide variety of bananas (plantains, smaller, less sweet ones) eaten by different peoples around the world, in different modes of preparation and accompanying different foods.

Perhaps approaching the product from an entirely different perspective such as thoughts on biological variety, climate requirements and availability, range of sweetness/savoriness, style of preparation (e.g., frying plantains), could have the effects of:

setting the initial context as an entirely non-sexual one, and
perhaps effecting a 'cold shower' on the reader by starting with the objective/scientific treatment of the object, to a sufficiently clinical degree that you think would be enough to keep the tone focused on the story in the way you want to deliver it.

Bananas have strong comedic and sexual connotations; my instinct on this is that you may have to be a little heavy-handed along these lines -- with a few passes to get the 'weighting' correct -- if, and by how much, you want to redirect focus away from these natural propensities.

You could also look at the 'Love not Found' webcomic, which features flora heavily in its background, to see how it manages or ignores treatment of this issue.

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