Bananas are the #1 food
Tech Insider was curious about what was the #1 most purchased food item in the country, so they asked Walmart, the country's largest retailer. The winner by a wide margin: bananas, with over 1.5 billion pounds sold last year.
The humble banana has easily unseated other grocery staples, including everything from ground beef to apples, by virtue of its ease of use and family-friendly nature. Kids love bananas, probably because they are the fruit which is most like candy. (A large banana has about as much sugar as a Snickers bar.) Moms like them because they are at least nominally healthy, with some fiber and potassium in there. (Although many common foods are much higher in potassium, including yogurt, spinach, and dried apricots.)
Bananas are also probably purchased often because they go bad so quickly! Or maybe that's just my own anti-banana sentiment. On the up side, bananas are very portable. It's hard to eat an apple or an orange at your desk without getting your hands sticky, but the banana's peel provides hand protection from the messy fruit itself.