Eeeeeeew?

J brought home a durian.

I have heard about them for a long time, especially on the Travel Channel. Bourdain loves them. Zimmern thinks that they smell like death. They are banned on subways, airplanes, buses, and in hotels all over Southeast Asia I was terrified, but I wanted to try it.

He had it broken open and cut up by the time I got over to his driveway (as D sure as hell wasn't going to let him try it in the house). It looked gross... like big, off-white maggots with pink tips. D was already bemoaning the smell in the kitchen. But, I didn't smell a thing. I even stuck my face in the container to breathe deeply. Nothing.

Now, for the taste. D tried it and looked like she wanted to throw up. She said that all she tasted was onions and garlic. I tried it and got pineapple that had been marinated in onions and garlic. Very different reactions. When J opened it up, B said that it smelled like custard. I didn't really love it, but I could understand why people might. I did object to the texture, though. It was mushy and slightly stringy and just not pleasant. I had a hard time choking it down because of the texture, not because of the taste.

The dogs all had different reactions as well. Ginger, Cleo and Gus couldn't get enough of it. They were practically knocking J over to get to it. Emma, however, wouldn't go near it.

When I came back in the house, I asked H if he could smell it on me at all, and he said no. While the aftertaste did go on for a while, it wasn't unbearable. Of course, I was swigging Merlot out of dread of the aftertaste, so that might have helped.

All in all, it was interesting. I would be very interested to try one again to see if I have the same reaction.