Doomed Foods?

As I've pointed out in this space before, we're the media, and it's our job to scare you. I'm kidding...for the most part.

However, after reading a very interesting piece at The Daily Meal about "doomed foods," I gotta tell you I'm somewhat concerned. Most of these foods are things that my family and I consume on a regular basis.

As you can see from the above photo, bananas are on the list:

One particularly devastating disease known as Panama disease is threatening the world’s supply of bananas. In the 1950s, the popular banana known as Gros Michel, produced at plantations in Latin America, was wiped out by Panama disease. For years, the disease has attacked Cavendish banana plantations in the Amazon and Southeast Asia. Most recently, it’s jumped continents and spread to Jordan and Mozambique, threatening plantations in Middle East and Africa.

As a frequent consumer of bananas (and a fan of "The Banana Boat Song"), I say FIX IT!

I'm thanking my lucky stars that my mom overdosed me on a regular basis with tuna casserole and Tuna Helper. Otherwise, our next item going bye-bye might really trouble me. Bluefin Tuna:

Named by the World Wildlife Fund as the sixth most threatened species in the world, the Bluefin tuna is quickly declining from overfishing. Efforts to improve and control harvesting of the critically endangered fish have generally been unsuccessful.

Okay, I know some of you will lament the lack of readily available Bluefin tuna, but it's the next item that should give you real concern. My wife Amy is going to freak when she reads about...Chocolate:

Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns from global warming are creating unsuitable conditions for growing the chocolate crop, cocoa. Half of the world’s cocoa comes from Ghana and Ivory Coast in West Africa, where cocoa crops are considerably affected by the changing weather.

Now we're getting into the scary stuff. What's next? My favorite elixir of all time, coffee? Well, yes, as a matter of fact:

Global warming is diminishing coffee bean supplies around the world. Coffee trees grow best at high altitudes in tropical climates, but due to changing weather patterns and increasing pest infestations, coffee yields are dropping.

Juan Valdez and his donkey, unemployed? Just wrong on so many levels. As is the thought that we could lose another food that's been popular about as long as there have been humans looking for something to eat. Honey.

Without honeybees, there would be no honey. Over the last several years, more than one-third of honeybee colonies in the United States have been wiped out from a disease called Colony Collapse Disorder.

There are more foods on the list. Check it out here.

Fear-inducing media requirement complete. Time for a coffee.