I just watched another show on the Travel and Living Channel about food in KL. On these types of shows the host will usually wander around the city trying out the different types of cuisine we have: Malay, Indian and Chinese. They always compliment the varied flavors and the international selection of street food in KL.
And then they try the durian.
For those of you that don’t know, durian is one of the most popular fruits in southeast Asia. Many Malaysians claim that durian is the “official fruit” of Malaysia. The thing about durian is that, according to various reports, it smells like feet and has the consistancy of custard. It’s been two years and I still haven’t worked up the courage to try it.
And now I’ve watched yet another show where the so-called “adventurous eater” host actually spits back out the durian. First Andrew Zimmern and now Bobby Chinn. They take a taste, always in front of another Malaysian who is enthusiastically enjoying his piece of durian, they get a strange, horrified look on their face, and then they spit it back out again. Now what about that visual is going to encourage me, a not-quite-so-adventurous eater to try durian?
I mean, here’s the synopsis of the first show I saw:
Bizarre Foods: Asia
Viewers join adventurous chef Andrew Zimmern as he travels through Asia, seeking out and eating some of region’s most bizarre foods. In this part of the world, the freshest foods are mostly alive and almost everything is considered edible. From the getemono bars of Tokyo, where beating frogs’ hearts, poisonous fungi and lizard sake are consumed for sport, to the hills of Chiang Mai, Thailand, where native tribesmen capture and feast on stir-fried bat, to the island of Penang, Malaysia, home of the world’s most repulsive fruit, Andrew tastes it all. (Airs 27 February at 1800)
Durian is lumped in with eating beating frogs’ hearts and stir-fried bat. That can’t be good…
In Singapore, apparantly, durian is not allowed in public spaces, like the subway, hotels or malls. I’ve even seen “no durian” signs in public places here in KL. When it’s up there with “no flammable liquid or gas” that’s really saying something…
During durian season, there’s always a little man selling fresh durian in the grocery store: “Duuurrian, duurrian, durian” he hollers. They always specifically ask us if we want to try the pre-cut little chunks. Yeah, I think I’ll pass…
Image 1 : http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~durian/img/durian.jpg
Image 2: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/MacGuffin3/duriansfree.jpg
There’s that saying: tastes like heaven; smells like hell. I don’t get it because, to me, durian doesn’t taste any better than it smells. And I grew up in Asia, and I love a lot of the other “weird” foods; family members even call me a fruit bat and marvel at how much fruit I eat, but somehow I never got sold on this “king of fruits.”
Oh, my! Smell of feet? With or without scented lotion?:)
Preya,
I’m a fruit lover myself, but durian just does not even seem like fruit to me. The smell alone is enough to send me running…
Ms. Profe,
We have had quite a few visitors here. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) none of them were here for Durian season. Which means they never got the distinct pleasure of smelling durian from about 30 feet away and wondering who hasn’t taken out the garbage in the last three months – and then walking by one person eating one piece of durian and realizing that it wasn’t actually garbage you smelled. It’s intense. In a bad way. 😉
Haha! “Durian is lumped in with eating beating frogs’ hearts and stir-fried bat.” Wow. That’s something new for me. =) Sorry, but I’m a durian lover. Maybe they weren’t fortunate enough to taste the better durians. *shrugs* 😉
An absolutely delicious entry. Learned a lot. Try to find them here.
=^.^=
kjenzz,
So, tell us what the good durian tastes like. I have some friends that are also durian lovers and they do not describe the “feet” taste/smell that I have heard eslewhere. I want to like all fruit! Including the king!
TorAa,
Good luck finding durian in Europe! I’m not sure it will make it all the way across the world – it is quite a specialized taste 🙂 But, if you find it and taste it, let us know what you think!
Folks,
I lived 4 years in Singapore. I tried to live as a native, eating what and where they ate, avoiding the American Club and McDonalds… even studied Chinese with a tutor till I was conversational. I ate my first bite of Durian after about 6 months there. It was intense.. WAY too sweet… but not as bad as it smelled. The really bad part was tasting it all day long after that. However, a week later I tried it again, and it was not bed. Still intense though. Then later that week, again,… this time it got better. Long story short, I got addicted to it and had to split one with a friend almost every day. Now back in the states, I found it only once in a Viet Namese/Thai grocery store. It was shipped in still in the shell, but had no smell because they froze it for shipping. I refused to buy it figuring it had no taste. You all probably will never taste it unless you go to Asia because nobody can store it here fresh. They also make ice cream flavored with durian there (right next to the corn flavored and green tea flavored ice cream). Just a side note: It smells like garbage because instead of being pollinated by bees, it is pollinated by flies…. Cool, huh????
Gene
bobby and Andrew should learn manners from Anthony Bourdain.It was extremely disrespectful to spit out the durain.For many many people the durain is the king of fruits.if one can eat bull testicles in the US and also hold a festival to celebrate its eating i would think that eating durain is by far better.yes one can smell the durain 30 feet away,but if any one has been to Switzerland the entire place smells of cow dung.Have you heard of Europe’s smelly cheese.No body talks about that. we love the durain and i dont even live in a country that sells it but i am there in singapore during the season.
Gene,
Thanks for the scientific background on the durian’s smell – very interesting! I actually have had durian flavored candy, and liked it, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get over the smell issue… I am impressed that you’re now addicted, though. Definitely a positive incentive to at least give it a try before we move…
Chitra,
I agree, it was pretty rude of both of them. Part of me wonders if it was just for show – I mean who could eat bull testicles and then not eat a piece of fruit? Either way, I hear you on cultural differences – I absolutely love stinky cheese, but I certainly don’t expect everyone to like the smell or the taste! To each his/her own, right?
A friend and I went to a great local ice cream palace in Vancouver where they have 218 flavours available from their 300 flavour library. Each time, we try a sample of something different – red bean, wasabi, garlic, lavender, balsamic vinegar and aloe vera have passed these lips in ice cream or sorbetto form. Last night, it was the durian. Of all the flavours, only straight durian and durian with jackfruit are covered, to prevent their scent from ruining other ice creams. We took our little sample shovels, took a quick whiff (blech – dirty feet!), and tasted. No spitting it out, but we did bend over and chuck our spoons like a sychronized swim routine. I quickly asked for a lemon sorbet sample to cleanse my palate. Cleanse it of what? Of the same stinky foot odour in taste form. There was no heaven in my experience.
Durian love it! You can get it shipped from the phillipines I have eaten it in England, but being in Malaysia is always the better option
Pat999
[…] of course, who can forget durian season. I mean that’s the smell to beat all smells. Durian, the king of fruits, the smell of […]
Hi there! Nice writing, and pictures too..
Thought I’d pitch in to defend the durian…
I don’t think your comparison of durians to flammables exactly follows… Whilst some of your readers may wish to classify it a biohazard, there is a sizeable proportion of the world who love the fruit. The proportion of kerosenophiles must pale in comparison. =)
I found Gene’s experience to be familiar – an American friend of mine tried durian a couple times in Singapore and grew to like it, even craving one in New York after she’d gone back to the States. She eventually hunted one down in NYC and told me that the deepfreeze kills most of the taste.
The prohibition of durians on public transport, etc. caters mostly to the large numbers of international visitors, who need some time to acquire a taste for it. All will be converted, in time. Mwahahahahhaha….
yeah i agree durian smells like the smell like the feet that has not been washed for a thousand days. Thouse who says durian is nice are noobers!And by the way do u all play runescape
Pity of you who dont know the great taste of durian. It is truly a King of fruit you have to find the good one. Here in Malaysia 25 million people, 30% chinese. Let say 70% of chinese love durian, so there is potential 70% of chinese population in the world will like this food too including you. Maybe you just dont know it yet…
Yeah I went to Malaysia this past summer and they said we had to try durian, if you go to Malaysia, you try durian. I wouldn’t say it smells like feet, it has its own unique smell that I can’t bare. We accidentally left a durian in the fridge while we were gone and our apartment smelt horrible for days!!
Ok so anyway back to when i tried it, the first thing is the texture. I held a piece in my hand and it was slimy and stringy and squoshy and nasty. Then I put it in my mouth chewed it once and spit it out. Gross
Hi there…
Durian for me is like heaven on earth… of course its origin from South East asia… so i think only people in that area will know which of which is the best… some of you who come from the other side of the world will never know the difference between the good or normal one …
For your info, Durian Hijau (green) is the best durian I’d tried so far..It taste great and affordable price…
Speaking about spitting out the durian… I say I rather pay amount of dollar for durian rather than having smell cheese with maggot on it or bulls testicle…Yuck…
By the way, remember…it just a fruit…
I live in Singapore and I grew up eating durians. Until recently, I only eat it when someone in the family buys it. Then i was introduced to a delicious breed of durian (best in my opinon), i have been having cravings for it since.
Durian is not for everyone. Some people avoid it like the plague while others are attracted to it like bees to honey. I hope it remains that way. Already as it is, the price of a good durian isnt exactly cheap (relative to the cost of living in each country). so if we do have more converts (especially if they come from Europe) we are going to have to fork out more for the really good stuff here.
Singapore is the 2nd largest importer of durians after china. The demand for good durians and the stronger Sing Dollar has pushed up the price of good durians for the malaysians. It is more lucrative for the plantation owners in the neighbouring state of johor to export their good durians here than to sell it locally.
Think of what the Euros would do to the price of durians here if all the Europeans should decide that they love durians and that they want to be able to buy the fruit from their local supermarket chain!
Thankfully, the day will never come as it is easier for me to find my needle in the haystack than to convince a European that durian is delicious. I am fine with paying SGD20-40 dollars for a really really good durian and I am happy keeping it that way.
To my dear European counterparts, it is easier to enjoy eating cheese and bull’s testicles. Leave the real disgusting stuff to us, we were trained from young to put that gross slimy, sticky fruit that smells like bad feet in our mouth. If you want to be a little adventurous, you can have fried rice, sweet and sour pork or something on a sizzling hotplate.
Oh yes, dont forget to add curry to that list of exotic foods. That will earn you bragging rights and your friends can go on about how brave you are to eat that spicy hot curry! Unfortunately you cant do that with durians, you will only get that disapproval look of disgust from your friends.
Thorny what right do you have to be condescending Durian tastes as bad as it smells for the majority of people each to their own as everyone is different your generalization are ironic and show your ignorance.
Fruit Lover
I’ve had it with westerners equating durian with feet! Its outrageous, really, you guys can tolerate cheese which is basically spoilt milk, maggots, bull’s testicles..
Durian is, in fact, a fruit!!! There’s nothing disgusting about it.
The texture has no slime in it, its just tender and sweet.
Really, think twice before equating something simple as fruit into something totally nonsensical…
Juz go back eating your greasy fried chickens and road kill hamburgers. Leave the fresh fruits to us!
My farm in Malaysia has several durian trees and my end of this month Dec 2008 there would be 100 over organic durians dropping. (The fruit drop when they are ripe)
Must say that only fruit lovers can appreciate the flavour of durians. Probably a little on the “acquired taste” basis.
Each fruit has its special taste, papayas, pineapples, mangoes, guava, but the durian definitely earns its name as the king of the fruit… its taste is unique..especially some of the special hybrids.
I tried durian in Bali, years ago and didn’t hate it or love it. Could be because it wasn’t in season. I wasn’t fond of the recurring taste coming back, however. Like garlic-y custard.
Our guide told us that the best durian are the ones that have been swallowed by elephants and then passed whole through their digestive systems. I figured this was bunk told to tourists.
Any truth to it? I read somewhere else that elephants roll the durian in leaves and thorns before eating them. Why?
“Inquiring minds want to know!”
Heya,
I stumbled upon your blog whilst googling for some pictures of Malaysian beaches and I got hooked and ended up spending an hour reading your posts! (when in fact I should be studying but we shall keep that hush)
And I’m not an expat. I’m a Malaysian studying in the UK too. You’ve made me fall in love with my country all over again.
I don’t particularly like Durian, the smell doesn’t bother me but the taste just doesn’t suit me I guess. But to anyone reading this, don’t let my comment stop you from trying!