Edit: fun fact, the fake banana taste is actually based off of the “gris michel” banana.

This is an urban legend.

The real reason artificial banana flavoring tastes so jarring isn’t because food scientists modeled it on a lost fruit from a century ago. It comes down to a classic case of isolated organic chemistry vs. complex natural agriculture, a phenomenon known in statistical science as the “n=1” problem, and a single volatile molecule called isoamyl acetate.