[quote=jessedan;6662][snip]
They're also used extensively in the south pacific in lieu of pots and pans. Banana paper products such as notebooks and stationary are sold here precisely in all the ecology minded stores. Could it be perhaps the ink and not the banana leaves that causes the Egyptian vendors to use plastic gloves? Or maybe they just don't want to smudge them or get fingerprints on them?
Regards
Priscilla (who has cooked with, eaten on, licked and even swallowed banana leaves)
[quote=lizajuk;4670]1
Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia/Phillipines etc also use banana leaves to cook in, unwrap the food and you have a plate to go! Yum! I also use them. My husband is Malaysian & we lived in Indonesia for many years. Banana leaves are and have been extensively used for millenia. Oh they make fantastic umbrellas in sudden downpours!
The only bad thing I have heard about them is if they are planted in a cemetery the dead somehow use them to wake up and walk the night
LOL! I found that myth very helpful as we lived with our back fence backing onto an old cemetery, we knew we were safe as the thieves or whatever would no way go through there to reach out 10 ft wall to try to scale it and enter our garden.
I think not wanting to smudge or dirty the papyri is the explanation for gloves. In China white gloves are often worn by vendors and taxi drivers for that matter to keep things clean and in the taxi case show how clean their taxi is. Yes the gloves remain pristine white
