Durian - love it or loathe it at first sniff!

Recently the King of Fruits caused a big scene in RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) of Melbourne, Australia after its pungent aroma was mistaken as a gas leak in the university's library. On the Saturday afternoon of April 28, approximately 500 students and faculty members were evacuated by the police after the "smell of gas" was reported at the RMIT University's library. The building was used to store potentially dangerous chemicals. The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) of Melbourne was summoned to the library just after 3pm to trace the origin of the smell. "After a comprehensive search, fire-fighters identified the smell was not chemical gas, but gas generated from rotting durian, an extremely pungent fruit which had been left rotting in a cupboard," said the chief of MFB. The pungent smell had permeated the whole building through the centralized air conditioning system. It is not known why and by whom the durian was left in a cupboar

No fruit in the world is as exotic as the gloriously 'stinky' durian! How dare I say that?  Delicious durian pulp waiting to be consumed. Well, just look at it! It is extremely thorny! Some cultivars are grotesquely shaped - think Quasimodo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Durian is a seasonal tropical fruit. It is monstrously big and heavy! One can weight up to 10 lbs (5 kg). This durian cultivar is called dinasour! It carries a distinctive aroma that to some is the sweetest perfume in the world while to others one sniff is enough to induce instant puking. To untrained eyes, durian fruit is better qualified as a murderous weapon than an edible fruit. In order to savour the durian flesh, one must learn to open the extremely thick rind first! Oh, did I mention the fruit exterior is entirely covered with big hard thorns that are capable of drawing blood? A sharp curved pocket knife is first used to slit open the durian rind along the joints. Opening a