Peeling Bananas Shouldn't Be This Controversial. Reddit Debates

Sometimes, heated culinary debates have real-life consequences. For instance, the question of whether a burrito qualifies as a sandwich has actually been litigated in several state courts. Other food rivalries, however, carry far less legal weight — but that hasn't stopped people from weighing in passionately on the finer points of gastronomic minutiae.

Case in point: bananas. While many of us likely haven't paid much mind to how we peel the fruit, the proper point of entry is a surprisingly controversial topic on Reddit. "My husband is mildly infuriated that I open a banana from the antenna side," one user wrote (it should be noted that "antenna," here, refers to the protruding stem). "He says it should be opened from the other side like monkeys [do]."

Cue the uproar. Thousands of comments flooded the thread, with folks from both sides of the divide weighing in. One "antenna"-side loyalist claimed it was the only way, as the stem "even functions as a handle," while a "monkey"-side devotee wrote: "Once I realized Mario Kart bananas were from opening the butt, I started doing it that way."

Fascinatingly, this debate has cropped up in numerous threads over the years. Some peelers take an evolutionary approach to defend their stance: "While humans have evolved away from [monkeys], they have had thousands of years to prefect the art of banana eating, and they do it from the bottom," one user noted. Others, however, have gone completely rogue: "The best way to open a banana is by ripping it in half," one Redditor asserted. Talk about a split (sorry ... it had to be done) decision!

For those who have never tried, it's actually surprisingly easy to peel a banana from the bottom — simply pinch the black tip, split the skin, and peel back the strips. However, there are caveats. If your banana isn't ripe, the black nub on the bottom will still be pretty firmly fused to the fibrous skin. In this case, snapping the stem might ultimately prove to be more effective.

On the other hand, if you have an overripe fruit on your hands — the kind perfect for a batch of ultra-moist banana bread but far too mushy to enjoy as a snack — the "monkey" method is where it's at. As a banana ripens, its peel becomes much more flexible. At this stage, pulling on the stem often just stretches or tears it off entirely without opening the fruit. Pinching the bottom requires almost zero force, allowing you to unzip the peel without further bruising the delicate fruit inside.

Ultimately, however, we have to agree with the Reddit user who simply stated: "Your banana, your choice. Just like pizza toppings." Now, excuse us before we get into the age-old discourse about whether or not pineapple belongs on a savory pie (but if you're wondering, yes — Reddit's tackled the fruit-on-pizza debate, too).