OMG! Sabrina loves Durians. Will she survive the Curse of the Durian Gods?

In this episode of Wanderlust and Wontons, hosts Andrew and Sabrina explore their love for exotic fruits, particularly the infamous durian. They share their personal experiences with durian, including its unique taste and strong smell, and delve into local myths surrounding the fruit, such as the belief that consuming it with alcohol can be fatal. The conversation evolves into a series of challenges where Sabrina tests these myths by pairing durian with different alcoholic beverages, leading to humorous and insightful reflections on their experiences. The episode concludes with a light-hearted discussion on the bonding experiences that come from trying new and unusual foods together.

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Transcript

Welcome to Wanderlust and Wontons, the real life adventures of Andrew and Sabrina. Imagine you had a party and you have just met us for the first time and you're having a chat, a banter or whatever comes to mind that is cool and interesting. We both lived in many countries for good lengths of time. I'm Asian and overall I've lived a third of my life in North America, a third in Europe, a third in Asia, Australia. I've enjoyed my boarding school years in Dublin, Ireland.

I enjoyed my single and party life in New York City, and there isn't a more amazing city beach than Bondi Beach, Australia. And of course, we love Hong Kong and Dim Sum. I was born and raised in Munich, Germany, till the age of 21, when I decided it was time to explore the world and have since been on a crazy adventure all over the world from South America to New York and Asia. You will learn more about us over many podcast episodes, but for now, come along and let's dive straight in.

sabrina kast (01:17.134)
So Sabrina, what are we having a banter about today? I know you love a lot of things about Asia, but one thing you really love are the fruits. Simple fruits like mango, exotic fruits like mangosteen. But what is the most unusual fruit that you love in Asia? This has to be hands down the durian. It's a pretty mysterious but famous fruit. Almost like a hostile looking fruit if you think about it. If you were to go to some alien planet and you brought back its native fruit,

It probably looks like the durian. crazy thing is like you're probably not the only Caucasian or Westerner that's tried durian or maybe even likes it but you're probably one of, I think the only one that I know that really really craves it. Like what happens when you first arrive in Southeast Asia? So usually upon landing, hop in a taxi or grab which is Uber in Southeast Asia, I would ask the driver whether durian is even in season and then the second, where can I get it and take me there.

Yeah, so as soon as we hop into this grab, you know, we're off to like the closest sort of famous durian store, right? So usually you have to go to a night market to actually get those durians. It's not like go into a supermarket and grab it off the shelves. Quite experienced around it, right? I mean, you like sit on these plastic chairs and you ask the vendor to pick a durian for you and he comes around with this massive machete and opens it right in front of you. Yeah, it's definitely not a gourmet dining experience, but it's definitely a pure street stall kind of experience. 

Let me tell you what I actually like about the durian. So the inside, the pots itself, so this is like a creamy, custardy texture to it. So it's quite a nice mouthfeel. It kind of reminds me of like vanilla pudding. And what I really like about it that every durian has its own taste really. I mean, it's like one is slightly more bitter, one is slightly sweeter. They have a ton of different varieties out there as well. the coolest names are Musang King, Red Prawn, A24. I mean that sounds like pretty like almost like a Area 51. Yeah absolutely. 

If you think this all sounds great let me tell you about the smell. So this is usually what puts people off is the smell. So people describe it to rotten flesh, stinky socks, Vomit I mean all the nasty things you can possibly think of. People compare it to. The western nose somehow perceives it that way right and it's pretty nasty. Except for my nose apparently. For your nose. Actually what does the smell come across to you as? I think of like cheeses right? mean growing up in Europe I like encountered all kinds of like gorgonzola and blue cheeses. Stinky cheeses? Yeah and I love them. Yeah. That's probably what I compare it That's why I'm not put off.

I always find it funny when the westerners are put off by the smell of the durian. I'm like, dude, you eat like you're a Stiltoner as well. You have no issues with that. So how can you put off with that? Or the Limburger from Germany. Or the Limburger, yes. My sour milk cheeses. Absolutely. So I think you're right. think the direct comparable for the westerners is basically the stinky cheese, which the Asians would typically stay well away from.

And I think for the westerners, the smell of this fruit is definitely pungent and strong, right? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you have to respect the fruit though, right? Even the locals respect it. It is banned from bringing the durian into local transportations like subways or buses, hotels, you know, because the strength is lingered around pretty much forever. 

But there a bunch of like mysteries around it as well, which I came across while eating my durian. The fun part of this podcast is the local myths and tales that comes along with this funky fruit. So one of them is actually drinking alcohol alongside eating a durian. The curse of the durian gods. what's gonna happen if you do that? If you dare to do that? Well, we've been told many times that you cannot drink alcohol and eat durian because you will die. You just die.

No rhyme or reason, you're just gonna die. Exactly. No explanation given. Actually, we did our research on this myth. So we asked the vendors, the Durian vendors themselves, and clearly they're the experts. And they all thought you were a crazy foreigner. I mean, for even suggesting that this is nonsense. I'm like, here I am, I'm German, we drink beer for breakfast. What harm could it possibly do to like eat a Durian alongside my having my beer? Absolutely. So she, I mean, she thinks it's nonsense.

The Durian vendor thinks she's like a crazy foreigner. Like, don't mess around with this. And I'm like, hmm, okay, let's just check my uncle, who's like a really intelligent person. He's the CEO of a billion dollar listed company. And I asked him, so this Durian myth, what do you think about it? Mixing alcohol and eating Durian. And in Singaporean English, she would say, don't play a fool, you'll die for sure.

So I can already see the rebel gleam in Sabrina's eyes. You know, we don't believe it. She clearly doesn't believe it. What are you gonna do about it? way. So we decided to put it to the test. Absolutely. And have a hardness beer alongside my durian. Like what could possibly happen? Challenge number one. So that night we went to and he had some Musang King and Sabrina had a beer with it, right? Correct. Yeah. Yeah. I just so you know, I chickened out actually. You didn't want to offend the durian gods.

Yeah, you know, I figured like, you know, maybe the myth is there for a reason. Maybe the Asian genes just can't cope with this mixture and will be self-destructive. story, you would die, right? I mean, I can see how this probably like did some damage to you. Maybe the German genes are stronger. They're not affected by urine alcohol. So anyway, I chickened out for challenge number one. But how did you feel? I mean, to be honest, didn't feel great. I mean, I was like maybe there's some truth to it. I mean, you have a carbonated drink and you have a fairly like starchy fruit. Think of like banana, right? It's like quite heavy carbohydrate. And the fruit's big. Sabrina, you would eat at least one fruit. In one sitting. In one sitting, you'd have two, right? Yeah. So, you know, let's just say it's not something you have when your keto diet or your paleo diet. It is a fully carved up meal. Yeah, so I didn't feel great. I mean, I felt pretty bloated. I was like burping and all those burps are vile. Let me tell you. mean, you're like the during stench doesn't go away. relive your during experience more than once. just say. I was like, kind of like questioning my decision for a little bit. I was like, huh, what did I do there? Like make sure I have my medical aid kit by my side and have you look over me and what am I gonna do? Shaking her, taking her pulse, making sure pupils weren't dilated, but you survived. Exactly.  I did survive. You look a bit uncomfortable. But you survived. I survived. Challenge number one, tick. 

At the same time, I'm not a pussy, let me tell you that. So a couple of days later, we went back. Up the ante. Exactly. Step it up a notch. Although, I will say, with some caution. Yes. Right? So we thought we would have the challenge number two that you would drink red wine. Yes. And eat a Jiren as well. And it wasn't really any blueprint to potentially how the symptoms might occur or surface. Would you pass out in an hour? Would you feel uncomfortable in five hours? Or would you just go to bed at night and sleep in your own bliss and never wake up the next morning? with my breath smelling of durian, right? Absolutely, a donor organica may not even work. not sure we would accept a durian-infused kidney, right? I know, my organs reeking of durian, imagine that. No, so we went in with challenge number two with some caution, absolutely. I was prepared to take pulse, check people's dilations, have a first aid kit by my side. Make sure I survived the night. I even actually checked out where the hotel defibrillator was, but so how did it distance to the hospital. You gotta take these myths seriously.

So how did it go? I felt great. I mean, I almost felt like I woke up with glowing skin. I mean, maybe I discovered something. Maybe I'm onto something. Who knows? Yeah, I think you're right. mean, you had certainly less of a reaction than with dear. Nothing. In fact, it was like literally zero. Yeah. And then I think, yeah, you woke up the max morning happy, glowy skin, not needing your $1,000 worth of cosmetics and wake up. So hey, maybe.

Maybe you're onto something. Yeah, you are onto something, right? So what did we do a couple days later? I mean, I always left a couple of days in between just to like for recovery and reset. Reset, exactly. And also that's a lot of Durian to be consuming. We thought, okay, let's go for the final Anselma challenge. We went to our favorite Durian store. We ordered several varieties of Durian. Yes. The Red Prawn, the D24 Alien lookalike.  The Foxy King. I bought her favorite Japanese whiskey. So I figured it was going to be like the Jesus' last supper. should at least... Might as well enjoy it. Yeah, I should enjoy with her favorite Japanese whiskey. So there she was. We had actually quite a lot of spectators that night. people must have really thought I had a death wish. Yeah, I mean the vendors were all over looking at our table, two or three of them. And then all the locals, because you were the only foreigner again that night at this famous durian store. it's pretty rare to be a foreigner being able to enjoy the durian anyways, let alone be able to drink alcohol alongside. They probably thought you were a crazy foreigner, but I think you earned their respect, there's no doubt about that. absolutely, I think I got a badge of honor for sure. so there she was. I had chickened out myself from challenge number one and number two, so I didn't actually have the beer or the red wine, I just ate the durian. So how did you go with the final ultimate challenge?

So let me tell you, I think this is the best combination. It really like brings out the complex flavors of the durian. It was amazing. So I can highly recommend combining your durian with Japanese whiskey. absolutely. Yeah, no, I think that's right. I think you look like the happiest. think the Durian Bliss. Yeah, that's for sure. Yeah. So clearly none of the medical first aid kits were required. You know, I think it wasn't clearly a last supper.

And I think, you you earn the respect of the vendors, the respect of the locals, and nothing sinister happened at all. think it was an enjoyable experience. Absolutely. And the crazy conclusion I came to is that actually you want to stay away from carbonated drinks. So I actually started off with the worst drink to have alongside the drink, which is beer, right? Well, it's your Coke even. That makes sense. You probably wouldn't be able to enjoy it as much because just carbonation, the carbonated drink with a starchy fruit.  It just doesn't go well. 


Yeah, but we debunked the myth. We debunked the myth. And it was a fun thing, I think for us it's a couple to do, right? Yes. In our local adventures, eating a kind of alien local fruit. It's definitely a bonding experience. It's definitely a bonding, you know, fun experience when we came up with the challenge. So I would say, you know, if there is something you want to do that is bonding with your partner, whether it be eating a funky fruit like durian or a spicy noodle challenge, go for it.

Who knows, it might even add some spark to your love life. Well, I hope you enjoyed our banter and being lost in conversation with us. Do subscribe to our podcast and we plan to drop an episode every week. 

Auf Wiedersehen!