The durian is considered the King of Fruits; the mangosteen the Queen. How is it I've tasted neither yet? This deficiency will be remedied when next I venture to Vancouver, B.C., the second-best place to live on the planet (after Charlottesville). Inline skating across the Burrard Street Bridge on a windy summer day may be among the greatest sensual pleasures allotted us on this sphere; the mountains, the wind, the boats, the waters, the harbor, the sun, it's all almost too much.
Neither of these two fruits may be legally imported into the U.S. due to the possibility of plant-born disease. Feh. Same nonsense as great French cheeses being banned.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
a couple of years after i got out of college i was working at a fairly large software company...one day i was walking by a friend's office and could swear i smelled natural gas.
turned out to be durian fruit cookies.
i know the fruit is supposed to be just fantastic but , let me tell ya, that cookie was one of the foulest things i've ever tasted.
i went downstairs to wash the taste out of my mouth with some nasty institutional cafeteria coffe.
blech!
2 - Eric Olsen
I say irradiate everything and let God sort them out.
3 - Dawn
When I went to Thailand earlier this year, I saw the durian fruit. It has a spiny exterior. And yes, it smells horrible! Some people call it the "corpse fruit" because of its especially putrid smell. Many hotels in Thailand ban guests from bringing the fruit into their rooms.
Supposedly the meat of the fruit is supposed to taste great, though. However, after smelling it time and time again while walking down the streets of Bangkok, I never wanted to taste it.
4 - Eric Olsen
Truly the stinky cheese phenomenon - you have to wonder what evolutionary advantage selected it for such notable stinkyness
5 - Jojo
Durian is a real great tasting fruits. In Philippines, we do have a folklore about durian. But all I know,it has a very sweet smell. Some people say it has a bad smell..I don't think so. It is really tasty and,promise, it can drunk me...