It’s a cake in disguise. That is what  the average person thinks when they hear the term “Banana Bread.” Banana bread is typically made from mashed bananas, flour, eggs, melted butter, and baking powder. This recipe has been tweaked from baker to bakery to fit each palate.

Banana bread is that girl; she is accessible, easy to make, and uniquely tasty. Banana bread, though similar to cake, isn’t considered one because of its process. Whilst cake batter is made often by creaming butter and sugar in a mixer. Quick breads like banana bread can be made by combining the wet and dry ingredients separately, bringing them together in a bowl, dumping the batter into a pan, and then baking. 

The difference between bread and cake is the leavening method. Bread uses a “love” leavening known as yeast, while cake uses a “chemical” based leavening known as baking powder. Some people argue this is enough reason for banana bread to be called a cake, but it has been agreed on by a vast majority that since it is poured into bread loaf pans, it can be considered bread. 

When you think about identity and self-love, we are taught at a young age that we are supposed to care what society thinks as the “community raises a child,” we are lost in the fallacy of what it should be as opposed to what it is. 

Just like banana bread, we are told that if it looks like cake then it is cake. When do we learn to unlearn, when do we start questioning what is considered normal and what is outright bullshit?

Let us take a look at Udeme, a young girl, 14 years of age in secondary school. Her parents have always told her not to speak back to her elders. Even if you’re right they said. So she takes that advice. It is what when she was accused by the neighbor of stepping on their flowers, she could have flared up and told Mrs Okon then that it was her son’s friend who destroyed her flowers with their soccer ball, but instead, she apologized.

Udeme is now 28 years old. She is now at the peak of her career. Her boss is quite old. When he starts questioning her competence because he wants to pour out the frustration of the fudge he had with his wife. She could have told him that she was capable of doing her job and established a boundary that would go against what she was taught. Her parents still dictated what ought to be right. When does she learn to love herself? Would it ever happen? If everyone tells her she is cak when would she believe that she is bread? These are the many things that are on her mind as she goes to the market. She is going to bake the best banana bread for herself. 

Udeme’s Banana Bread Recipe:

• Preheat the oven to 35°F.
• Butter your baking pan.
• Mash the banana in a bowl.
• Add melted butter to the bananas.
• Mash them down with a fork till completely smooth. 
• Mix in the baking soda, sugar and salt.
• Pour into the pan.
• Put in the oven and leave to bake.

Serve.

Now, with a cup of creamy milkshake and a few slices of banana bread, today doesn’t seem as bad as it was. This is bread even though it looks like cake. I am Udeme, I am more than just the child of my parents.  I have my own identity. I can make my own choices. I am not a cake, I am bread.