/oss/taxonomy/term/4008/all en /oss/article/nutrition-general-science/king-fruits-needs-deodorant <p>“Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother.” Anthony Bourdain, chef, journalist, travel documentarian certainly had a way with words. Here he was describing the consequences of partaking of the flesh of the durian, known in Asia as “The King of Fruits.” The problem, as Bourdain discovered, is that the king needs a deodorant. I once had the pleasure of getting close up and personal with a durian, and never having French kissed a corpse of any sort, I would describe the fragrance as a blend of locker room aroma and car-squashed skunk.</p> Fri, 21 May 2021 19:37:16 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8741 at /oss /oss/article/food/if-you-can-endure-smell <p>The durian grows mostly in southeast Asia where it is referred to as “The King of Fruit.” The only problem is that the king needs a bath. While people speak in exalted terms about the taste of the durian, they admit that its fragrance brings up memories of a public toilet in which the sewer has backed up. "Durian is an Indonesian word and derives from "duri", which translates as thorn. Indeed, the "durian" is a thorny fruit in more ways than one. It is about the size of a large cantaloupe and is shaped like a football and its hard shell is covered with rough, sharp spikes.</p> Sun, 17 Mar 2013 15:11:12 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1899 at /oss