The first night I moved into my college house my roommates told me that we’re not really friends with the neighbors. Since they are all men, and we’re six women, our houses never connected on a level beyond friendly hellos. About three nights into the school year, brown bananas changed the dynamic between our two houses. A fresh baked loaf of banana bread turned into a friendship we didn’t expect.
I learned to bake when I was little. My mom spent time teaching me, since she was an expert herself. Between basic pumpkin cookies and time-consuming whoopie pies, I learned to bake as many things as I could. Going into college, I planned on baking for my roommates, so when one of them told me there were ripe bananas ready for some banana bread, I jumped at the chance to make it. I found a recipe on Google, some old chocolate chunks from the back of the cabinet, and got to work. It was easily the best banana bread I had ever made.
Because of all the excitement and jitters from being back in our college town, we sent a quick text over to the neighbors to come try it. Having not met any of them before, I had no idea what the night would turn into when they walked through the door.
As we waited at the dining room table, I talked about how I expected one person to show up, grab a slice, and leave. Instead, three of our neighbors came to our front door with a lot of happiness that we invited them. While everyone ate, we all talked about our majors, families, and hobbies, getting to know each other through laughs and jokes. While I didn’t think the banana bread was an accurate example of my baking skills, I had accidentally created a panel of very hungry judges.
While laying in bed that night I got texts about how delicious my baking was. They all rated my skills a 10/10 and gave suggestions on what needed to be made next. The other three roommates that didn’t come that night were complaining about missing out so I promised to make more soon. What I thought was just a one time night of getting to know each other, turned serious when they showed up at my door with more bananas.
Now — a little over a month later — I still get texts about once a week that they saved bananas for me to use. Their texts became less of a suggestion and more of a weekly reminder that there was bread to be made and a house to be fed. They started coming over more and more to hang out on our porch while the bread baked, which turned into a tradition very fast. For one of their birthdays, I made the moistest loaf of banana bread I could, stuck a candle in it, and celebrated with everyone. A few weeks ago I didn’t even know his name. Now, I am standing in my kitchen making him a birthday cake. It felt full-circle, going from absolute strangers to celebrating their birthdays in my home.
While the bread is the glue of our relationship, they have expanded beyond asking for just a slice and now come over for lunches, protein, and bagels. They sit on our couches and watch football while devouring all of our newly purchased snacks, or take my leftover pasta from the fridge because they forgot to go grocery shopping. Sometimes my roommates and I think that they’re just using us for our food.
They have tried to offer us things in return. Our house has turned down pieces of corn bread and frozen fish- but, hey, at least they’re trying. We use them for more conventional things like killing giant spiders and hanging our pictures on the wall. We feed them; they help us. When a creepy eight-legged bug showed up on the floor during our movie night, we didn’t hesitate to call them. Although scared themselves, our neighbors banded together to remove the creepy threat from our living room. They may have started to come over for banana bread, but eventually became our go-to contacts in emergencies.
A month ago, the bananas on the counter were just another thing to be thrown away. Now, every time I see some turn brown, I know what is coming. The neighbors will join us on the porch, we’ll eat up the warm bread, and eventually someone will ask when the next loaf is being made. I thought I was making banana bread for just my roommates, but instead I accidentally baked a friendship between our two houses.