The Runaway Cook

It's the middle of the night and this dry heat here is just beginning to cool down. I am exhausted from the long day of touring the fruit farm and crashed on my bed. Pillows prop me up as my body flails to reach the computer so I can talk to a friend from school that lives here, Khairul. After a short conversation, we are both convinced that I must go with him and his buddy on a durian run. . . NOW.

Flashes of tall buildings and cars wiz by our car as we wing around the blocks. We turn to the left onto this street that seems a bit out of place or back in time with short buildings and small fruit stands. Khairul says that this is an old part of town where things stay the same. It's a little broken down but still good.

Our new platinum-colored car pulls up to a parking right in front of what is perhaps the smallest stand on the street. Khairul gets out for a minute and goes back and forth with the keeper in what looks like negotiations. “Ok” He says with a smirk. The three of us sit down in plastic beach chairs pulled up to a rickety folding table, and I can't help but notice a strange aroma of gasoline and something like an onion hanging in the air. The center of the table is a green colored plastic pitcher above a flat cylindrical container. This is water for washing our hands, since we will be eating this fruit with nothing but our hands and the bright pile of pink napkins.

Ok so at this point I'm getting a little nervous. I've never heard anything good about durian. . . except from Khairul, who in this case is not exactly the most believably objective person. Durian, is one of the most famous fruits, especially in this area of the world. Called "the kIng of fruits" it is something any good traveler, and any good cook for that matter, has to eat if they make it here. Oh shoot here it comes! It's cut into two pieces and accompanied by three waters. The couple that runs this stand seem to be snickering at me. Obviously I am a newcomer to the art of consuming Durian.

That "strange aroma" from before has intensified. So, when Khairul told me to “Smell.” I gulped and uttered “Like I can’t already?!” I pick up the prickly half of a fruit and bring it within a centimeter to my nose. The pungent stench of old onions and caramel invades my cranial cavities and lungs. Yep that’s the stuff. Oh God help me! Khairul is digging right in! With his first two fingers an thumb he grabs a large and soft look piece of yellow flesh.

“Well try some!”

“Ok but I’m gonna need a picture of this” I hand his friend the camera. I touch the yellow pouch it feels soft and fibrous with strings like a mango and the softness of a ripe banana. I take about and inch and ask out of pure ignorance, "Is too much or should I open my water first."

“Well your going to have to swallow that first.” He smirks again, this time he is not the only one laughing.

"Ok-aaaaay." I look at it for the final time and take the mouthful of yellow fruit. The taste, surprisingly, is not so offensive. It’s strong and that’s perhaps the worst part. It tastes like a caramelized onion, but it was an onion, you know that sucker that got away from you and got a little mushy waiting for you to find him. Sweet, savory, with just a hint of bitter and biological, it’s not bad as I thought. I eat three more bites. The shopkeeper brings a second one over and it smells much more gasoline."Wheeew! I can’t eat that one."

"Hahahaha" Khairul laughs and his friend and him start in on this reeking second course. They both admit that durian has many levels of quality. "The one you just ate is the best durian you will find out here. And for what I paid for it, it should be." While licking is fruit covered fingers, he explains that everyone has their preferences of the king, from excessively sweet to more bitter and heavy petroleum to more oniony. However, he says that when all those flavors are in perfect harmony, that's when it's really good.

Well, I don't know if I could say that I'll ever find this fruit "really good." But I do know that this wasn't so bad, except for that pungent smell that filled head and lungs and the burps that came afterward. . . . Oh the burps . . . yeah, that was the worst part. "EEEEERRRP!" Awww not again, so gross the second time around :/