As you might expect, it was bananas at Slow Food Oahu’s annual festival celebrating the most popular fruit in the world (according to Guinness World Records). The 2025 Banana Festival on Sunday, Sept. 21, at Windward Community College featured activities for all ages - check them out below!
The star of the show was front and center in the atrium of Hale Ākoakoa, where they hung up a great display of some of the varieties.
It wouldn’t be a Banana Fest without bananas! There were many varieties to sample for free.
(all photography by Therese Padua Howe)
You could buy 14 varieties of banana plants from Hawaii Banana Source, including hard-to-find ones.
You could also purchase bunches by the pound, as well as packaged freeze-dried or dehydrated bananas in several varieties.
I purchased two each of the Ice Cream, Iholena and Namwah. The Ice Cream and Namwah were creamy and delicious, but not as fruity and sweet as Iholena, which is my new favorite banana.
The variety of Iholena they had was a petite fruit with orange flesh, and I learned it’s native to Hawaii. If you’re interested in growing this, finding a plant may be difficult - they didn’t have any for sale at the festival, and a Google search didn’t turn up any online sellers that weren’t sold out.
There were other foods you could sample as well: honey, banana bread, goat cheese bars - and a unique dish: Henry’s Crispy Banana Stalk. I would never have thought you could eat anything other than the fruit, but apparently you can make a delicious snack out of the stalk! They kind of taste like the baked green pea snacks you can buy at the supermarket.
Henry, who is from Uganda, created these delicious crispy banana stalk snacks.
Roots Cafe and Food Hub in Kalihi had a great selection of savory and sweet banana dishes: Indian Banana Curry, Pastelon, Banana Blossom Salad, Fried Banana Trio, Peanut Butter Banana Mocha Popsicles, Choco-Mai’a Bread, Banana ‘Ulu Sago and Cassava-Banana Suman.
It was hard choosing from Roots Cafe’s menu, but I went with the Pastelon, made with banana, kalo, ground beef and venison, tomatoes, onions and crown peppers.
I didn’t stay to find out the results of The Great Banana Cook-Off but I did get a sneak peek at some of the dishes. Though it seemed simple, the best presentation was a couple of sliced bananas in a cute banana leaf dish.
I also didn’t get a chance to participate in the lauhala and mai’a weaving, but I saw that their seats were filled for the two and a half hour I was there.
I did get to dye the Banana Festival tank top I purchased earlier at another booth, an activity that attendees of all ages seemed to enjoy. I hadn’t realized you could bring your own shirts or bags to imprint, but it all worked out, as the printed festival shirt seemed the most appropriate way to bring home a souvenir of the day.
One of the best takeaways from the day, though, was meeting a Department of Agriculture official who told me that the female Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle does not have a prominent horn - which meant that the dead insect I found in my pool a couple of days ago was indeed the dreaded beetle.
Congrats to Slow Food Oahu and all the vendors and exhibitors on a successful event - looking forward to next year’s Banana Fest!
