The weird world of food obsessives

Slide show: As a famous banana exhibit faces closure, a look at some of the world's most curious collections

Published March 25, 2010 12:20AM (EDT)

<a href="/food/feature/2010/03/24/slideshow_food_museums/slideshow.html" class="invokeSlideshow">View the slide show</a>
View the slide show

For anyone with an unfulfilled dream of holding a world record, Ken Bannister is offering the deal of a lifetime. Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported that the Hesperia Recreation and Park District is evicting Bannister's International Banana Club and Museum after housing the museum, rent-free, since 2005. Bannister is the founder, curator and self-proclaimed "top banana" of the museum, and holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for the "world's largest collection devoted to any one fruit." Now he's put his entire collection of more than 17,000 banana-themed curios for sale on eBay

Bannister isn't the only one with a food fixation so singular that a private collection balloons into a homegrown museum. Here's a look at some other self-made curators whose devotion to edibles has gone a little nuts.

View the slide show


By Sara Breselor

Sara Breselor is an Editorial Fellow with Salon Food.

MORE FROM Sara Breselor


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Food Food Art Food Traditions Slide Shows Slideshow