Saturday, September 07, 2013

Durian: King of Fruit or King of Puke?

Most people either love it or hate it. Those who love it would go to great extent to have it.

The top 10 durian species according to a website:
http://www.miricitysharing.com/top-10-best-and-delicious-durians-you-must-try/


In Penang, some well known durian orchards are guarded, well tended and have notes on the fruits with names of people (even from overseas) who have booked them. Well known HK billionaires like Li Ka Shing and Stanley Ho are known to have brought back the fruits for each other (must have used their private jet) as no airline would allow it on board unless vacuum packed without the pungent smell.

British novelist Anthony Burgess writes that eating durian is "like eating sweet raspberry blancmange in the lavatory". Some attribute the quote 'like eating ice-cream in a toilet' to Somerset Maugham.

But it is recently confirmed in Sydney that the smell of durian is like that of gas! Must be of the obnoxious kind... like fart?

'Building security and emergency staff in Sydney have raised a stink about a trial consignment of Malaysian chilled durians shipped to the Harbour City, mistaking the odoriferous fruit's smell for a gas leak.
But Agriculture Malaysia staff have taken the misunderstanding on the nose, allaying the Aussies' concerns -- if not their dislike of the pungent odour.
Malaysia's Sydney Consulate agriculture director Muhammad Rudy Khairudin Mohd Nor said the 'gas' alert followed Agriculture Malaysia staff opening 10 packs of 'Musang King' and 'D24' durians at 2 pm for lab tests in their Sydney CBD office.
"The strong, pungent smell of the durians went into the ventilation system and reached the office next to ours on the 15th floor of the Market St building.
"The staff in the adjoining office, all Caucasians, panicked because they thought there was a gas leak ... they summoned the emergency services. The whole floor was evacuated within minutes," he said.
Muhammad Rudy said security and emergency staff arrived at the 15th floor to investigate and, sniffing out evidence, ended up at the consulate seeking answers.
"We explained that the smell came from the durians. The officers were amazed and puzzled how similar the smell was to gas, although they were convinced after we showed them the fruit and how it smells," he added.

Malaysian durian raises a 'Pong' in Sydney
Full article: http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=157282:malaysian-durian-raises-a-pong-in-sydney&Itemid=2#ixzz2eAJGNmOf 

Incidentally, yesterday morning, a lady coffee shop operator in Pusing used an expression in Cantonese which translated into 'Speaking to you is wasting gas' which my friend said it was the first time he heard that expression. But it was all because she used just one English word 'gas' in the Cantonese expression 'Pong lei kong tu sai hei' ( 'hei' in Cantonese which actually means 'breath' in the common expression ).

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