Hello, I am Indonesian learning Spanish. I once saw the word Banano and I thought "that's not the word I learned for banana before. Is this a different fruit?". So I did some research and this is what I found.

Banana and banano is the same exact fruit. I think in Panama and Spain, the word Banana is more common, while in South America it is more common to use Banano. The word Banana is female and used with the article la (la banana), while Banano is male and used with the article el (el banano).

Then why I saw people call it Plátano in the movie? Well, while Plátano looks like banana, it is actually a different kind of fruit. In taxonomy, Plátano and banana (or banano) have different species names, but they are of the same genus. Latin names for banana are usually begin with Musa acuminata; Musa acuminata cavendish for example for cavendish which is the most common banana's variant we saw in the fruit market or grocery stores, or Musa acuminata 'Lady Finger' for a sweeter and smaller variant of banana. But for Plátano, the Latin name is Musa paradisiaca. So yes, they are of different species.

It is common and safe for us to consume banana/banano raw. But it is more common to process Plátanos first before eating them. In Indonesia we call it "Pisang Tanduk" which is literally translated as "Horned Banana" and we deep fried it with flour or steamed it, but we only choose the ripe ones for this . It is also famous for being fried as chips or tostones.

So, which one do you prefer? Banana or Plátano?