system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How does leather tanning work? Can you apply similar methods to something like, banana skins?

Bit of a bizarre question, but how does leather tanning work, and is it possible to "tan" a vegetable/fruit skin- for example, something thicker, like a banana skin? 

Just curious if it would be possible to make usable leather out of vegetables/fruits/plants rather than animals.
gpt
No, tanning happens due to the formation of complexes which cross-link the collagen fibers, both strengthening them and making them more difficult to break down(for example, by microbes). Fruit skins are made primarily out of cellulose; the process that will "polymerize" collagen fibers won't do the same to them. 

You can extract cellulose out of something and make a stronger polymer out of it; for example, cellophane. It's not really similar to tanning, though.