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Durian supremacy
(lemmy.world)
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/46892723
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this post was submitted on 16 May 2026
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Has anyone here eaten durian? Is it more tolerable than the stories say?
Smells bad, tastes good!
Just extrapolating, I’m guessing starchy and umami?
I'm bad at describing flavours but like a sweet/vanilla/pear custard that reeks a bit in the good/bad way stinky tofu smells?
I also would throw in a bit of sweet onion flavour or something like that
Smells like sewerage (which is why they're banned in most hotels, planes, transit and enclosed spaces where they're common), tastes like a fancy dessert. It's a complex flavour that's honestly unique, and they don't all taste the same - various sub-varieties exist.
To me the most consistent flavour of them is a very creamy mild honeydew-melon and vanilla flavour, with a dash of banana. Very pleasantly floral and generally quite sweet.
Given that description you'd think I'd love them but I actually can't stand the smell and look (bro the fruit flesh looks like yellow turds), I've only ever eaten them under duress haha.
Why they're banned is not about how bad it smells directly, but about how long the smell lasts in the room even after you take it out, and how much worse it becomes before it disappears.
I've only had it once or twice. It kind of resembles a mango and a banana mixed in flavor. Maybe like 75% mango and 25% banana. I was quite fond of it, but unfortunately the stickiness afterwards was quite unpleasant and never came off no matter how much I washed.
This makes it sound like a durian smoothie would be great, but also I don't think I could handle the smell.
After processing into whatever other forms, the stinkiness usually lessens a lot
Source: loves durians my whole life
The folk tip is to run water over the shell and wash your hands
It works surprisingly
Source: someone that lives and loves durians.
I grow up with durian, kinda depend on how well your tastebud like to be challenged, because it's not stink like smelly drain(that award goes to stinky tofu). Once you overcome the smell and the mushy texture it's full of unique flavour depend on the cultivar. It's probably the most unique fruit coming from south east asia, and SEA have a tons of unique fruits.
Are you natives?
I am, and I concluded it (obviously) cultural. We didn't as familiar with different varieties of cheese, so the stinky cheese (don't remember the name) have absolutely foul smell to me.
On the other hand, most never even questioned that durian smell is just that, durian and nothing to overcome. It doesn't register as something nasty to the point where someone who actually didn't like it usually seen as the weird one ( also cuz it's considered expensive fruit)
And to answer OP question, it tasted creamy as in dairy to me but I don't like dairy products besides yogurt so I maybe wrong.
I'm native, but i also have nephews and nieces that dislike the smell at first but once tasted it are fine with it, so assuming their perspective aligned with people who doesn't grow up with it.
Another example i can give is smelly tofu, i don't grow up with it, never had it, never know how it smell, but when i'm in college i moved to city with people selling it, i hated the smell whenever i went to that particular night market because it smell like sewage, but once i tasted it, it's like a whole new perspective. I now crave it once in a while, and will recognise the smell as something distinct.
On the other end, i actually hate petai/stink bean despite growing up in a family that had it very often back then. I just can't take the smell. So i feels like, unlike cilantro, it's something you have to overcome both the smell and texture, and if you don't like it you don't like it.
Ooh, nice. It's rare to see another SEA-an around this part.
Oh, yeah I agree. What I'm trying to say is that someone with an entirely different set of culture (foods) already has a predetermined set of palate of what kind of taste to expect, so even if they power through the initial smell they just more likely to dislike it cuz it resemble nothing they usually consume.
I would take a guess that we're probably neighbours country. I haven't taste smelly tofu in particular, but I can imagine the smell. The by-products of the normal one would make anyone gag, this one probably just straight up has the sewage aroma because of the aging and what not.
The bathroom situation is what makes me hate it. I wouldn't refuse if offered but never choose it myself.
Funny, I can't stand cilantro. I don't think I even has the "soapy" taste gene. It just taste like random grass to me and everytime I accidentally taste it I thought "this ain't human food" lol. The brain is fascinating, huh.
It didn't taste as bad as it smelled, but I really wasn't a fan of it's fatty texture. I'll pass next time.
Old stuff and let's say sticky stuff smells horrid, but actually now when you eat it and it tastes good the smell is less horrible since you know it tastes good. It's a nicer association afterwards
I’m familiar with this experience, between cheese and cumin.