Festival goers rush to the durian pyramid in Wonosalam, East Java Last month, the big durian news story took place in an unexpected place: Canada. In February the spotlight returns to Southeast Asia, where it is prime durian season throughout most of Indonesia. But amidst the festivals and other durian shenanigans there are deeper, hard-hitting […]
Durian News: January 2013
This January was quiet on the durian front. In contrast to December’s deaths, health warnings, squabbles between stall owners, and all-you-can-eat buffets all across Southeast Asia, this month’s biggest durian news is of havoc caused in an unlikely country: Canada. Yes, a bank in Malaysia hosted a big durian party for its head honchos (yawn), […]
Death By Fruit | When Durian Really Does Kill People
Durian has a bad reputation – and not only for it’s smell. At first we believed rumors of people dying from durian to be a myth, but sadly, yes, our beloved fruit is a bit of a murderer. While Rob and I romped around Asia sampling durian, the media reported on six individuals who met […]
News: A Death in Sarawak
Death by durian is not an uncommon occurrence. It’s not because durians fall on people’s heads while they’re out running around the orchard at night, although that happens too, but because of an unknown and unstudied complication that arises with over-consumption. Right now news of a durian related death is rocking Sarawak, where it’s peak […]
Durian News
Man Stabbed Over Durian A 46 year old man was recently stabbed twice in Singapore in a dispute over $2 durians. Conflict between vendors and customers in Singapore has risen sharply this year and is blamed on the low yield of Malaysia’s summer season as well as the opening of exportation to China. The […]
News of the Durian
Philippines May Export Durian to USA and Europe That’s right, asian grocers in the USA might have more to offer than frozen Thai durians in the years to come. The city government of Davao, Philippines is exploring the possibility of expanding their durian exports to include whole fruits. In recent years, Davao has experienced a […]
News of the Durian
Durian Trees Find a Home In May, Rob and I visited Dr. Songpol Somsri at the Horticultural Research Center in Chanthaburi. The day we were there, the government bussed in farmers from the Nonthaburi province for a weekend seminar on durian grafting. The province had recently suffered from massive flooding, which killed nearly all of […]
News of the Durian
Durian Charity for Children Good news can be hard to come by, but this story is really sweet. Recently, in Georgetown, Penang, 21 lucky orphans were treated to a feast of durians. Not just old kampungs either, the Bayview Hotel shared 200 fresh durians from Balik Pulau, where some of Malaysia’s best durians are grown. […]
News of the Durian
A Durian Tragedy Lindsay and I have been intrigued by stories of people dying from falling durians since before this trip began, when two years ago we visited Davao, Philippines and were told that farmers harvested the fruit with football helmets. Since then we’ve asked in every country about this danger. No one seems to […]
News of the Durian
Eat durian in your hotel! What?! A hotel in Georgetown, Penang, has become the first in Malaysia to allow customers to bring our favorite stinky fruit inside. Sneaking durian past the front desk is fun, but it would be a nice experience to eat durian openly in the lobby of a hotel or in […]
News of the Durian
Durian smell delays Indonesian flight Go to Ucok’s durian stall in Medan and you are likely to see stacks of freshly packaged durian being prepared for flights to Jakarta. This was a regular sight during our visits last February, but apparently not everyone who lives in the Big Durian loves the stuff. On a […]
News of the Durian
Massive Durian Party Want to raise loads of money? Start by pooling 7500kg of durian and inviting durian crazy Malaysians to eat all they can! The Children’s Wish Society of Malaysia did just that on this Father’s Day, hosting a 20 RM buffet and collecting donations from over 2000 durian-loving attendees at the event held […]
