The sentence makes one’s mind jump to any occasion one has had with a horrid smell. Maybe it’s rotten food, rotten baby diapers, the sewer, pig farms, or dead animals. Gross I know. But even with all of that I can guarantee that none of those smells alone or even combined can compete with the most disgusting smell in the world.
DURIAN
What is Durian you say? I said the same thing, now I wish I had some re-wind button to the days before even hearing the word Durian. Just the word makes me get a bit sick to my stomach, ok a lot sick to my stomach.
Durian is a thorny oval shaped fruit that can be found in the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore. Somehow mixing the word fruit with this food seems so contradictory. Believe it or not this fruit is a delicacy to some. Personally I think their definition of delicacy and mine are very different, I would think of Durian more like self inflicted torture.
So let me explain, Friday night we piled in vehicles with 13 of our wonderful friends and headed down to China town to enjoy some authentic Chinese food.. It was a blast. This is tradition for us. Also tradition is heading over to the Chinese desert shop afterward. The shop smells fine, and includes some very interesting Asian deserts with huge Tapioca balls. Most of us ordered pretty familiar stuff, strawberry, papaya, watermelon, but Ino ordered a Durian shake. “Ino what’s Durian?” He said it tasted great but smells. Smell is an understatement. In fact the shop itself has to keep the fruit tightly sealed. I’m sure if they didn’t people wouldn’t even come in. Due to peer pressure I take Ino’s cup to smell it. It was all down hill from there. There is no word in this world to describe what the smell is like. In fact it was so bad it almost seemed unreal or impossible for something so putrid to exist. We passed the cup to everyone. Each person had the same violent reaction to its contents. By this time the whole shop smelled. When Michelle walked in she said “so what’s the general smell in here?” I think that was her polite way of saying “what in the world is that horrible smell”. Ino convinced us that the fruit tastes completely different than the smell. I’m still trying to figure out how that is possible. I’m also still trying to figure out why someone way back in the history of the world would have even attempted to eat such a smelly fruit. It makes reason stare!
So foolish me and Ken. We try a sip because Ino said it tastes great. Here’s the problem. In order to take a sip out of the straw you have to inhale to get the shake up, right? Well when you do that the smell comes into your mouth. He was right the taste was vastly different but I just couldn’t get past the smell that was now STUCK in my mouth. It was gross and made my stomach churn.
I just couldn’t believe it. So I searched the internet and found some funny comments on the fruit.
1. This delicacy has been described by its admirers as “smelling like hell and tasting like heaven.”
DURIAN
What is Durian you say? I said the same thing, now I wish I had some re-wind button to the days before even hearing the word Durian. Just the word makes me get a bit sick to my stomach, ok a lot sick to my stomach.
Durian is a thorny oval shaped fruit that can be found in the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore. Somehow mixing the word fruit with this food seems so contradictory. Believe it or not this fruit is a delicacy to some. Personally I think their definition of delicacy and mine are very different, I would think of Durian more like self inflicted torture.
So let me explain, Friday night we piled in vehicles with 13 of our wonderful friends and headed down to China town to enjoy some authentic Chinese food.. It was a blast. This is tradition for us. Also tradition is heading over to the Chinese desert shop afterward. The shop smells fine, and includes some very interesting Asian deserts with huge Tapioca balls. Most of us ordered pretty familiar stuff, strawberry, papaya, watermelon, but Ino ordered a Durian shake. “Ino what’s Durian?” He said it tasted great but smells. Smell is an understatement. In fact the shop itself has to keep the fruit tightly sealed. I’m sure if they didn’t people wouldn’t even come in. Due to peer pressure I take Ino’s cup to smell it. It was all down hill from there. There is no word in this world to describe what the smell is like. In fact it was so bad it almost seemed unreal or impossible for something so putrid to exist. We passed the cup to everyone. Each person had the same violent reaction to its contents. By this time the whole shop smelled. When Michelle walked in she said “so what’s the general smell in here?” I think that was her polite way of saying “what in the world is that horrible smell”. Ino convinced us that the fruit tastes completely different than the smell. I’m still trying to figure out how that is possible. I’m also still trying to figure out why someone way back in the history of the world would have even attempted to eat such a smelly fruit. It makes reason stare!
So foolish me and Ken. We try a sip because Ino said it tastes great. Here’s the problem. In order to take a sip out of the straw you have to inhale to get the shake up, right? Well when you do that the smell comes into your mouth. He was right the taste was vastly different but I just couldn’t get past the smell that was now STUCK in my mouth. It was gross and made my stomach churn.
I just couldn’t believe it. So I searched the internet and found some funny comments on the fruit.
1. This delicacy has been described by its admirers as “smelling like hell and tasting like heaven.”
2. Each experience felt as though I had lost a bet. However, as emotionally scarring every bite was, durian is a cultural must-have and the locals will appreciate your efforts.
3. Travel and food writer Richard Sterling says: “its odor is best described as pig poop, turpentine, and onions, garnished with a gym sock. . Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia.
The funniest thought of the whole evening was thinking of how fun it would be to surprise friends with a fruit like that, but I just can’t bring myself to even go near it! So friends, count yourself lucky!
The funniest thought of the whole evening was thinking of how fun it would be to surprise friends with a fruit like that, but I just can’t bring myself to even go near it! So friends, count yourself lucky!
5 comments:
Believe it or not I keep torturing myself by watching a show on "freaky foods"...and the guy attempted yet again to try Durian and in his attempt SPIT IT OUT! This is a man who eats roaches and snails...worms and crickets! I mean, really - this stuff must be bad for this gentlemen to spit it out! (I'm watching such diverse TV because right now, that's about all the energy I have half the time!)
That's wild. I've never heard of that fruit. And how strange that something so putrid smelling and ugly in appearance can actually taste so good. (According to those who have actually made it past the smell and consumed some! Hee hee.)
There's a moral lesson in there somewhere, though. :o) Something like this: Like the durian fruit, some people may appear in rags and grime, and smell as bad as a chicken farm, but they are "delicious" and worthy of a chance in God's eyes.
(Or something to that effect.) ;o)
Love you!
Karie,
That is just funny. Funny, funny, funny. I can't believe it would taste that good to make the smell worth it. I am just laughing.
if you could only imagine!!!
Ok, I can't believe that you would actually taste a fruit as awful smelling as that! Come on now...our sinus cavitiy is just but an inch away from the inside of our mouth!! :) I'm just such a scardy-cat when it comes to new foods. There's no way you'd get me to taste it! I can't even eat seafood because of it's smell!! YUCK!!!!
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