This popular French cocoa powder combines sugar, chocolate, three grains (wheat flour, barley flour, and malted wheat flour), banana, and honey. Its history is a case study in marketing. In 1909, while traveling in Nicaragua, banker and journalist turned adventurer Pierre Lardet discovered a drink based on banana flour, crushed grains, cocoa, and sugar. Upon his return to France, he recreated this miracle drink with the help of a pharmacist friend. He began selling the product in 1912, emphasizing its supposed health benefits, and trademarked the recipe in 1914. In 1915, Banania tins featured the image of a a Senegalese sharpshooter, a figure much on the minds of the French as tens of thousands of Senegalese fought in the trenches of WWI. Never one to miss a PR opportunity, Lardet shipped 14 wagons of Banania to the troops on the front lines to give them "force et vigeur." Company legend has it that the trademark slogan "y'a bon," pidgin French for "it's good," came about when an injured Senegalese infantryman, hired to work in the Banania factory, pronounced his opinion on the drink. In 1999, probably thinking to capitalize on nostalgia, the French company resurrected a stylized reprensentation of a Senegalese; in 2003 new owner Nutrial brought back the "y 'a bon" slogan. The strategy backfired. A group of Antillese, Guyanese, and Reunionese took the company to court, arguing that the image and slogan were racist and insulting. A compromise was reached in 2006 whereby the image was kept and the slogan dropped. This cocoa powder is imported from France.
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