CHARLOTTE, NC - To incentivize your shoppers, Dole Food Company has several strategies up its sleeve. In honor of the 10th anniversary of its National Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Day, Dole wants to switch things up a little bit—and focus that attention on the banana category specifically. William Goldfield, Director of Corporate Communications, noted that the name of the holiday could be changed to “Eat More Bananas Day” for 2024 only.

“Dole is going bananas throughout 2024 to celebrate our 125th year in the banana business—so we want to remind Americans that the iconic yellow fruit is more than delicious, nutritious, and recipe-friendly enough to shoulder the all-produce holiday all on its own,” said Goldfield. “We also commissioned a National Banana Day Survey that found that bananas rank ahead of all other fruits and vegetables as a must-have grocery staple and impulse purchase.”

Dole’s five new banana dishes were created by Melanie Marcus, MA, RD, Nutrition, Wellness, and Communications Manager, as part of the company's 125th Banana-versary.

According to a press release, four of the five recipes are vegetarian and two are also vegan, gluten-free, and low-sodium.

The recipes are below:

• Banana-Candy Bar Pops
• Banana Hummingbird Muffins
• No-Bake 3-Ingredient Chocolate-Banana Cake
• Grilled Banana Bites with Cashew-Maple Dip
• Bananas Foster Trifles with Date Caramel

“At the end of the day, there are many ripe reasons behind this year’s friendly name-change suggestion,” Goldfield added.

With that much inspiration at the ready, we completely agree!