Of Spikes and Smells

Behold the durian, King of Fruits:



This fruit is widely available across Vietnam. Practically everything about the durian is distinctive, from its large size to it's numerous thorns to, above all, it's powerful and dangerous reek.

For durian smells bad, and there's no way around it. If there is a single durian for sale in the supermarket you will smell it the instant you walk in the door. Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain employed a rather vivid simile to describe it: 'it takes like you'd buried someone holding a big wheel of Stilton and then dug him up two weeks later'. Travel writer Richard Sterling goes even farther, claiming that the smell 'is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock.' I'm not sure if I'd describe it that way but the message is clear enough.

So, how does it taste? Rather like a mix between mango, Gouda, and cream custard. Does that sound disgusting? I rather like it, but not raw. Only in smoothie or ice-cream form does it become palatable.