“To anyone who doesn’t like durian it smells like a bunch of dead cats,” said Bob Halliday, a food writer in based Bangkok.

Travel and food writer Richard Sterling says:
“… its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia.

According to Wikipedia:
“The unusual odour has prompted many people to search for an accurate description. Comparisons have been made with the civet, sewage, stale vomit, skunk spray, and used surgical swabs.”
and
“Three scientific analyses of the composition of durian aroma — from 1972, 1980, and 1995 — each found a different mix of volatile compounds, including esters, ketones and many different organosulfur compounds, with no agreement on which may be primarily responsible for the distinctive odour.”

At least now you don’t have to endure the smell of a turd, too. The NY Times article says that connoisseurs of durian liken its smell to that of fine cheese – the worse it smells the better it tastes. But, I fully acknowledge that I have not gotten where I have in life by being open-minded, and putting moldy cheese in my mouth and savoring it is about as likely as my purchasing a giant, spiky fruit that smells like it’s already been digested by the almighty Sarlacc. Which is to say, not likely.Has anyone tried durian? I think Matthew has, and I think it was from some restaurant in Ames, IA.