A Very Forbidding Fruit

I have never been to Singapore, but there's an exotic, spiny fruit native to the country called a durian. It's widely eaten by the masses. But one wonders if they hold their noses while they're munching away.

In this post last month, N.Y. Times blogger Matt Gross called the durian "the most wretched-smelling fruit in the world." In fact, this fruit gives off such an unpleasant odor that Singapore's mass-transit system posts signs urging passengers not to carry durians aboard its trains.

If you're curious what a durian looks like and just how smelly it is, check out this YouTube video.

This longtime Singapore resident loves durians but admits it's a "purely personal taste." And here's a N.Y. Times article from 1994 that closely examines this "forbidding fruit."