Saturday, October 07, 2006

Strange food - Singapore

When it comes to food in Singapore, nothing is strange. To me, at least. Which is why I find it hard to write about local food that I find strange. If I were to write about food that I find strange that originates from some other country, then I might be able to pinpoint some. Also, Singapore food actually originates from various countries such as Indonesia, China, Malaysia, India, etc, which creates a wide diversity of food here. Any food that I list will be associated with some other country, so I'm just going to look at Asia overall.

I did research. At Weird-Food.com, somebody put Durian as a weird food from Asia. Known as the king of fruits, the Durian is one food that most foreigners hate. As quoted from Weird-Food.com, the person described the Durian as having a smell that "has been compared to rotting flesh, old gym socks, or sewage." It also has a green spikey exterior, which is why you would often see durian sellers wearing thick, white gloves when handling the fruit. The flesh is yellow in colour and can be either bitter or sweet. You can often tell whether the flesh is bitter or sweet by looking at the colour. The pale yellow ones are bitter, and the bright yellow ones are sweet. I myself prefer the bitter ones. There is no reason why, it is just a matter of preference.

In Asia, we have many other food that has durian flavourings. Food such as durian ice-cream, durian crackers, durian candy, etc. Also, because of its strong pungent smell, your mouth and hands would smell of durian for at least a day and no matter how many times you brush your teeth or wash your hands with soap, the smell would not go away. But I have heard from my parents and grandparents that if you fill up the durian shell with water and drink the water from there or wash your hands with it, the smell would go away. I have never tried it before though so I don't know how true it is. It is also always good to drink water with a pinch of salt after consuming durian. That is to prevent yourself from getting a sorethroat due to the "heatiness" as the durian is known as a fruit that is "heaty". Whatever that means. Durians are banned in trains, buses, and hotels. Again, this is due to the really strong smell that the fruit possess.

So the next time you come to Singapore or to countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand, do get yourself a durian and try. You may or may not like it, but I can assure you that it will be worth it!

PS: Article edited numerous times even after published. ;p I can never be satisfied with what I write so I always proof read many times and edit. Sorry!

3 Comments:

Blogger Jock said...

Woo! Great!
We do have this fruit here! It´s very dangerous when it falls from the trees!
Here we call it "Jaca"... there´s also a good commom expression here used when you want to say that you did something embarassed. You say "Enfiar o pé na jaca" (to thread the foot in the Durian).

We used to see on tv shows that some asian countries eat some insects, scorpions, crickets, little monkies brains... is that true?

7:13 PM  
Blogger cole edwards said...

We have that fruit at our local Asian market. We were curious about it and finally found a nice old lady who could tell us in English what it was. She told us it smelled like gasoline and rotten animals but it was very delicous? It is a beautiful fruit and I would be curious to try it. I find it strange what people have discovered what is edible. Think of the brave person who first tried it and how they got others to sample it? hmm.

12:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jock, it's so tru about eating insects. You can see it everywhere especially in Thailand. Lots of them!! I think fried cricket should be fine :P I would love to try it if have the chance.

As for monkey brain it's quite widespread in Asia, this is very cruel. It's eaten alive, imagine that someone poking your brain eating your brain while you are very much alive and awake.*puke*

4:16 AM  

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