Banania Chocolate Breakfast Mix

Enjoy a French-style hot cocoa with Banania Chocolate Breakfast Mix!

Banania Chocolate Breakfast Mix is enjoyed hot or cold – all you need to do is add milk and stir. This drink is more nutritious and tasty than your average cocoa: Banania combines chocolate, banana, and honey with three different flour grains to provide a filling and delicious beverage for young and old. Alternately, you might find that you like the powder on its own: in that case, toast a piece of good bread, butter it, and sprinkle powder over the top for an original and delectable snack.

In 1909, during a trip through Nicaragua, the journalist Pierre-François Lardet discovered a delicious drink made of banana flour, cocoa, crushed grain, and sugar in a village in the heart of the forest.  On his return to Paris, Pierre-François Lardet did his best to reproduce the recipe. In collaboration with a pharmacist friend, he determined the exact proportion of banana flour, cereal grains, cocoa, and sugar to blend together for a unique and incomparable taste. He considered a variety of names for his recipe: “Bananette,” “Bananose,” “Bacao,” “Banacao,” and “Banarica,” but eventually stuck with BANANIA. The name was registered in August 1914.

From the beginning, the brand’s emphasis was on the drink’s nutritional and energizing properties: “intensive super-nutrition,” “vitality,” “energy,” “health,” and “strength” for the whole family.

During World War I, Banania became France’s comfort drink. Lardet decided to send fourteen wagons  of his chocolate powder to the front, to give “strength and vitality” to the soldiers. Some wagons made their way to Senegalese riflemen who had been recruited from the then-colony of Senegal. At the time, the Senegalese soldiers endeared themselves to the French population, because of their courage and valor in combat. This led to the use of a Senegalese rifleman as the symbol of the Banania brand. The image has evolved slightly over the years, and now features what the brand calls “the Senegalese rifleman’s grandson.” Note the boy’s red fez!

Today, Banania is seen as a cherished collectible, as a cultural object. The madeleine of Proust is not a madeleine for most French people but a steaming breakfast bowl of Banania clasped with both hands.

The nozzle allows for easy, precise pouring, and can be re-closed.

Ingredients:

• sugar
• dark chocolate
• wheat flour
• barley flour
• malted wheat flour
• chocolate powder
• banana
• honey
• vanilla
• salt

Weight: 400 g

Size: 14.1 oz