Apparently, durian is in season again.
If you can’t tell from the Chinese businessmen selling stacks of durian from their small lorries by the roadside, or the unmistakable smell wafting every lift / office pantry / supermarket / every street corner of Malaysia.
The durian is not only the king of Malaysian fruits (and what would be the queen? The chempedak? Nangka? Kedondong?), there isn’t another local fruit or foodstuff that clearly divides our masyarakat majmuk into two camps.
There are those who think it’s the greatest thing on earth, right next to sex and free goodie bags from IT fairs at PWTC.
And there are those who think it smells like roadkill and would rather eat the stuff they show on Fear Factor than to savour the durian.
Let me categorically say them I don’t like durians. I don’t hate it, I just don’t like eating it. It’s expensive, it’s heaty, it smells, it sticks to your fingers, it leaves the lingering smell in your belch (“BURP! Whoowah! Durian!â€) and it’s a pain to open. You’d be surprised at the amount of time our local investors put in to invent that perfect durian opening device.
Yes, that’s it, I dislike the smell of durian from OTHER people. But anyway, coming back to the fruit.
Everyone is either one clan or the other, there are hardly any fence sitters. Local cartoons like to portray the Mat Salleh tourist as the horrified durian hater, usually seen fainting at the very sniff of the thorny fruit. And they usually also typical show the Malaysians squatting round the open fruit by the roadside eating the sticky fruit and burping that killer stench. (usually the toxicity of the smell is measured by the number of dead flies / grasshoppers / stray dogs killed by the noxious smell.)
Stereotypes aside, there are equally many Malaysians who like and don’t like durian. My auntie loves it (probably more than life itself). Come durian season, she spends all her husband’s pension and whatever mahjong winning on the caviar of her life – durian. It doesn’t matter if its D24 or 36DD. She doesn’t eat much else – it’s durian for lunch and dinner. Given a choice, she’d probably mix the yellow fleshy fruit in with her cornflakes and milk for breakfast. Yummy.
A few years ago she missed my wedding dinner because she fell sick from too much durian. I’m not sure if she did the made the aforementioned durian-cornflakes cocktail.
Wake me up when lychee season starts.
[tags]durian, Malaysia[/tags]
10 Comments
anjali*
Haha. How timely. I have been eating durian for breakfast, dinner and supper for the past month.
But I think I cannot buy any back to the house anymore, coz my housemate has approached me to say that she does not eat durian and that the “stench” keeps her awake at night! Damn! 🙁
Naz
Hmm… Durian cornflakes… Maybe can try Durian Koko Krunch as well…
And I think the Queen of fruits is the Mangosteen.
lilian
You are not my fren anymore! How can anyone dislike durians!!!!! *walks off with horrific look* LOL
Ken
Hahaha… Actually I would be a person who’s on the fence on ths one. I like the yummy, yellow, soft durian that melts in my mouth, and the aroma of it just sizzles my senses and… wait… I don’t hate durian at all! Hahaha… Yeah, the mangosteen would be the queen 😉
pelf
I think it’s the lychee season now =) I remember the Tour Guide mentioning something about visiting HK in July so that you can pluck and bring home as much lychee as you can =)
mama23beas
Let me tell you about my lecturer, a chinese man from Penang. Besides getting fortune from consultation work, he bought 20 acres land in Semenyih to grow durian. And the smell, I tell you…the whole lab smells durian and we know who the culprit is. He smells durian, no not the burp yet but he as he had been sitting in his car that always carries durian. I love durian but tried to sit in his car, I almost pengsan!
Anyway, come durian time…he would bring me some D24 ‘buah tangan’. Now I should give him a call;)
simon
anjali – keeps her awake? wah this one serious, man… now you know how to torment her if she annoys you.
naz – “durian koko krunch… soft and crunchy at the same time, yellow and brown all in one! Taste of a new generation!”
lilian – aiyo, kita tak sama party, man… you durian party…
ken – you’re really making the other readers hungry, la.
pelf – lychee! bring on the lychee!!!
mama2beas – i rode in my fren’s kancil once. the smell of the durian in the boot is heightened by the small cabin space of the car!!!
zyrin
you know what’s bad? when you’re a durian lover and forbidden to eat it coz you’re unwell. -sob, sob-
oh, and durian season = making tempoyak!!!
now, come on… you *know* tempoyak is wayyyy worse that durian, ehehehehehe…
ponytales
Nowadays, just like that!…I don’t like durian already…sigh…My appetite has gone crazy :p
Ryan
Malaysia grown Durians are crazy man… But im quite surprised with the number grades they have these days… We know the super nice D24; now im looking at what, D4, D24, D32 (like bra size) & many more Ds… and then there is XO and Durian king… Haha…
I have durian every lunch time during the seaon, which now… woo hoo. It seems its good for the complexion and hair because of its natural content of sulflur… how cool is tat… good to eat and good for me as well… i really pity those who hate durians or cant eat because people around them hates the smell…
Earlier this month, when i went KL, somewhere near KLCC, i was having the Durian King with my friends and this Malaysian looking chinese guy with a Ang Mo chick just walked passed and went “phew, whats that smell”… Can you imagine… i really felt like throwing the shell at him… i told him to piss off loudly though… haha…
Gtg… look forward to the next season… im planning to go segamat for a durian buffet the next time… you guys should check it out too… : P