I’m a huge fan of Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations and The Travel Channel. Season 3 starts July 30th.

Why you ask? Then maybe you have not see the show or maybe you don’t have cable.

In this clip you will see Anthony eating a stinky fruit called Durian, I think from Season 2.

I have seen in in various Asian markets here in Seattle but never had the guts to try it. I think the last place I saw it was at Uwajimaya.

Based on how much Anthony likes it I might have to give it a try.

A funny point of interest: Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Food (also on the Travel Channel) actually spit out Durian on his show. Just couldn’t eat it.

We also posted a video clip of Andrew trying out Haggis. Great clip.

Little more on Durian:  Writing in 1856, the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace provides a much-quoted description of the flavour of the durian:   

“A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy.”

Wallace cautions that “the smell of the ripe fruit is certainly at first disagreeable”; more recent descriptions by westerners can be more graphic. Travel and food writer Richard Sterling says:

“… its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. 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.

Here is a complete site on Durian.

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