Image via @durianwriter/Instagram
If there’s one local fruit that Malaysians are proud of, it’s durian. Whenever durian season comes around, many of us go on a foodie hunt, looking for the best D-24, Musang King, and the likes. However, while we love the King of Fruits, foreigners seem to have a different take on it, with some commenting that the fruit smells like old socks…
… but not Hollywood actress Jessica Chastain though, who loves the fruit so much, you can see the sparkle in her eyes when she’s talking about it.
Like Chastain, Lindsay Gasik, an author and durian enthusiast who’s currently living in Penang, too is a fan of the fruit. In fact, she’s so obsessed with it, she spends most of her days hunting for the best durian, and even goes to the extent of creating a comprehensive description for travellers.
Describing the taste of durian like a French vanilla ice cream on her blog Year of the Durian, she has since penned two guide books—The Durian Tourist’s Guide to Thailand and The Durian Tourist’s Guide to Penang—which focus on the variety of durians available. She has also led several durian tours across Southeast Asia!
She first fell in love with durian after trying it out at the wedding of raw food gurus, Matt Monarch and Angela Stokes. After graduating from college, she decided to pursue that passion, embarking on an elusive ‘durian trail’, travelling around Southeast Asia. She has since sampled over 65 varieties of durian over the past 10 years in Malaysia, and another 65 in Thailand!
"There are durians that (taste) like coffee, milk chocolate, white chocolate, coconut cream, whisky, wine..." she said when describing the various taste of durians.
For Gasik, the discovery of durian is an adventure, one where money seldoms play a role. "It's sort of a dive into their culture that people really appreciate," she revealed. "You end up having really great conversations with people."
Info via CNN
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