Obey the Durian

Well here's what I can tell you about the Durian. Anything you may have heard about the overwhelming odor that they produce is true. If anything those reports may be understated. It pretty much smells like a swamp gone bad, and it's not as if swamps smell good to begin with.

I thought about not smelling it before I tried it but the food geek in me would not allow that. If I was going to do this I was going to do it right and get the complete Durian experience. So I took a big whif, then I thought to myself there is no way a human should ingest anything that smells like that, and then I took a sip.

The flavor is really hard to describe. At first I detected a sweet almond flavor but the swamp smell really spilled into the flavor. I wound up with a sweet swampy almond flavor kicking around in my mouth. Immediately I thought, this is a horrible horrible thing. I was, however, determined to finish this thing. Under no circumstances would I leave it on the side of the road or anything like that. I was in it for the long haul.

At about the halfway I went from holy christ I can't take another sip to wait a minute, there's something good in here. Literally for the first half of the beverage I had to struggle with every sip. Now everything had changed. I was now involved in an incredible flavor experience that had awakened me to a whole new world.

I rapidly consumed the remaining durian, with boba nonetheless, and I knew I would have to have more. The place that I got it was closed though. The next morning I got up and drove across town to get my second durian. This was completely different. The smell which less than 24 hours ago had repulsed me to no end I now found strangely pleasing. I tore into this one with reckless abandon. I couldn't get enough. Insanely delicious is the only way that I could describe it.

Tuesday I was at work. I had taken the train which means my car was not available to me. I hopped online and found a Vietnamese restaurant that was about 10 minutes away and convinced Rob to take me over there. I had already checked the menu and they had durian. He went with me and I told him he was going to have to get one. Begrudgingly he did, as he is also somewhat of a foodie and couldn't leave without at least giving it a try.

I hopped back into his car tingling with anticipation. I was also pretty excited to see how he would react to his. He smelled it first and nearly puked. He also said something like What the fuck did you get me into but I was too excited to care. I started drinking mine, enjoying the boba's which had already started to absorb the flavor of the durian and were roughly akin to durian flavored chewing gum. This was great.

Rob, however, did not share my enthusiasm. He tried 2 little sips and thought he might die. We got back to work where the entire office was fascinated by our little treats. I drank all of mine, that was 3 in 3 days. Rob then told me he was going to trash his and I told him the hell if he was. I took it and drank it right down. Make that 4 in 3 days.

I didn't have one yesterday but I drove to work today so rest assured that I will be getting one on the way home. I don't know if there are any hardcore Vietnamese places around you but you need to track one down and try this. I found several Vietnamese grocery stores that sell the actual Durian fruit and I will be picking one up to eat in it's natural form.

waldo