This is all that was leftover from my durian-fest the other night. I was walking down some backstreets to a late-night restaurant when I went past a fruit shop that had a few durians for sale – a very rare occurrence in Chengdu. Though they were pretty expensive - one durian cost me 55 RMB; to put that in perspective, I normally eat lunch for 5-10 RMB - I’ve recently been getting so excited about eating durian in Vietnam when I go there next month that I couldn’t resist. Luckily, my impulsiveness paid off – the durian was ripe, creamy and totally scrumptious.

The taste of durian is incomparable, and utterly unlike any other food. It is notoriously difficult to describe, so I’m not going to try, but instead will leave it to the words of Alfred Russel Wallace, the British naturalist, who in 1856 wrote this marvelous passage:

“A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy. It is neither acid nor sweet nor juicy; yet it wants neither of these qualities, for it is in itself perfect. It produces no nausea or other bad effect, and the more you eat of it the less you feel inclined to stop. In fact, to eat Durians is a new sensation worth a voyage to the East to experience…as producing a food of the most exquisite flavour it is unsurpassed.”

Roll on Vietnam...