A colleague surprised me this morning when she said that pisang Raja Udang can cause a disease called penyakit sopak; that is vitiligo, a long-term skin condition characterized by patches of the skin losing its pigment. Pisang Raja Udang is the local name for red banana Musa acuminata which is a native of South East Asia. A local tale had it that an injured prince had once hid and fainted under a banana tree. Later, he found out that the lass who had healed him was a spirit of the banana tree and the banana tree had later bore red fruits because of his blood. He then made a degree that the red banana was not to be eaten by his subjects. Eating red banana has not just become a taboo among some of locals but among them are some who believe that it would result in some sort of malady; vitiligo being one of them. Never mind that the red bananas are bigger, sweeter and have more vitamin C than the yellow ones.
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