Bananacore goes big
A 16-foot banana bread takes over Concordia’s EV building
Posters announcing the collaboration between Concordia University Food Services and the Hive Café Solidarity Co-op for their attempt to make an enormous banana bread on Feb. 18 were difficult to miss across campus buildings.
The concept, playful and ambitious in equal measure, promised both spectacle and slice.
With distributions of slices scheduled for 1 p.m., attendees gathered early in the atrium of the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (EV).
Before service began, Shatha Arslan, a Fairtrade coordinator, spoke about the intention behind this year’s expanded Bananacore event and what organizers hoped students would take away from it.
“[We hope it] promotes the Fairtrade and for Fairtrade to become on their radar,” Arslan said.
While Concordia holds events like Bananacore annually, this year marked a large-scale collaboration between Concordia Food Services and the Hive. Every year, they spotlight different products such as coffee, chocolate and bananas.
When asked to clarify what Fairtrade means for students unfamiliar with the designation, Arslan expanded on Concordia’s certification status and the sourcing behind the ingredients used for the cake.
“Fairtrade is an ethical certificate, but Concordia is Fairtrade-designated like the Stingers coffee," Arslan said. "And the ingredients used to make the cake, such as the bananas and chocolate, are all Fairtrade."
Oliver de Volpi, manager of Food Services, reflected on the decision to scale up the tradition this year and emphasized the tram’s intention to expand the annual initiative.
“We decided to do it bigger for Bananacore,” De Volpi said.
The cake measured 16ft by 6ft and was packed with 181 kg of bananas, 4.5 to 5.4 kg of cocoa powder and 100 kg of Fairtrade chocolate chips. The record-sized bake served 3,000 portions, 2,200 being served in EV and 800 being donated to the Hive Free Lunch program at the Loyola campus to ensure both campuses received slices.
Right at 1 p.m., the area in front of the massive cake was packed. Cohesive lines proved difficult to maintain as crowds gathered shoulder to shoulder. Nearby, Fairtrade Concordia served free coffee, where a more orderly line formed.
Students followed the smell of cocoa and bananas to the EV atrium with plates and Tupperware in hand. No container? No problem! Event workers were handing out generous slices on paper plates with utensils, moving quickly to keep up with demand.
Despite the size of the crowd, the cake table remained well-stocked for much of the distribution. De Volpi later noted that the cake ran out at around 2:45 p.m., earlier than anticipated, but expressed satisfaction with the number of portions served.
After pushing through the crowd, finding a place to sit proved difficult. Nearly every spot in the EV building was occupied by someone eating banana cake.
The portion was hefty, about the size of a hand and surprisingly dense. The banana flavour came through clearly, with a decent amount of chocolate chips baked throughout and a thick layer of frosting on top. It made for a solid sweet treat to help students get through that point in the semester. Those who brought reusable containers had no problem taking an extra slice for later.
When asked whether they’d try to break the record again, Arslan shared that plans for next year remain uncertain.
“I don't know if we are going to make it bigger,” she said.
For some students, flavour mattered just as much as scale. After trying a slice, May Chreideh shared her thoughts on the final product.
“The cake was done beautifully, but I wish it had more banana flavour,” Chreideh said.
Perhaps next year’s Bananacore event will aim not only for size, but for an even stronger banana punch.
