I want you to think about bananas.

You're not supposed to think about bananas -- you're supposed to just throw them in your grocery cart and eat them without ever wondering how they got to you -- so thinking about bananas is a radical act.

Who grew your bananas? How were they harvested? Do you know what a fair price for bananas is?

Equal Exchange Co-op is betting that you'd actually like to know more about your bananas. After all, this is the company that made the same wager about coffee and brought the first fairly traded beans ("Forbidden Coffee") to America. Think about that. Coffee used to be just as anonymous and storyless as bananas are today -- and now, many major coffee companies adhere to the kind of transparency that would allow you to meet your coffee farmers on their packaging, and most sustainable foodies wouldn't think of buying non-Fair Trade coffee.

We need to do the same for banana farmers.

So who does grow your bananas? Equal Exchange bananas come from El Guabo, a small farmer co-op in Ecuador, with owener farmers like Laura and Luis David (above). How can you learn that? At certain grocery co-ops carrying Equal Exchange bananas, the Produce Department can track a shipment straight to the farmer who grew those bananas simply by glancing at tracking codes printed on the case. Many stores are starting to post those farmers' names over their banana displays.

So here's a challenge to Minneapolis Fair Food Fighters:

(A) I want you to start paying attention to and asking who grows your bananas. If your store doesn't carry them, ask the Produce Team if they could bring Equal Exchange bananas into your store. Why Equal Exchange? Because it's one of the only banana companies (organic or conventional) that bothers to preserve its farmers identities for customers like this.

B) If you're in the Twin Cities, I'll even make it worth your while. For the next two weeks, go to Seward Co-op in Minneapolis and note who grew your bananas. Email me at eldragonfff atsymbol gmail dot com and tell me the name of the banana farmer written on the Equal Exchange display (pictured above) and the date you visited the store, and you'll be entered into a drawing to win two tickets to the Minnesota Roller Girls' February 6th match and a $25 Gift Voucher for Seward Co-op to spend on anything you like in the store (not just bananas!). One winner, two prizes. Deadline is February 4th.