Submitted by Riley Hazel the 2024 Spring program in Singapore, Republic of Singapore…
Oh wow, where do I even begin? Just last week I, along with other interns, tried durian for the first time in Singapore. While I was interested to see how it tastes, the others were not. The biggest thing I’ve ever heard about durian was that it smelled terrible, but I surprisingly enjoyed the smell. It’s odd but others were not able to withstand the smell. Besides the smell, we were able to taste the durian as our office bought some for everyone. Lets just say, that I will never have durian by itself ever again. The thing that shocked me the most was that this fruit is not only the least healthy in terms of sugar, but also you can’t eat it with alcohol as it will upset your stomach severely. Thats a suprising fact as you can do so with any other fruit. Now, the taste wasn;t the most pleasant as I did gag a few times. It’s a sweet but bitter taste that can only seem to be missing the sugar. I’ve suggested that it would taste good as a cream puff or an ice cream, to which I was replied to as they have those within Singapore. The texture of the durian was the worst part of it all as it was creamy, like ice cream but also a moist banana. I hated it so much but I ate the rest of what I bit into. I’ve never head of a fruit being creamy before by just eating it raw, but this was the first. The overall rating I gave it was a five out of ten as I’ll hope to never have it again. I was very suprised when all my coworkers from Singapore, or nearby enjoyed eating the durian. It tasted like ice cream to them which surprised me even more. How can one enjoy such a foul fruit? I gave them the benefit of the doubt since they grew up here and have ate it most of their lives, but I was still astonished. My first ever durian eating experience was surely a memorable one, but one I won’t want to relive again. Trying these new foods that we do not have within the United States is truly wonderful. (Submitted on April 29,2024)