Adventures in Eating: Anthropological Experiences in Dining from Around the World

7: Durian: The King of Fruits or an Acquired Taste?

127 Biographical sketch. Maxine McBrinn is an anthropological archaeologist who specializes in the arid lands hunters and gatherers of the western United States. While she has no formal background in the anthropology of food, she is an enthusiastic experimentalist of new tastes and cuisines. Maxine found her reaction to durian to be as complex as the flavor of the famed fruit itself. Taste is one of the many ways to experience a new place. Enthusiastic visitors, including myself, seek out new foods and new dishes as part of being somewhere new. In an ideal scenario, the intrepid traveler tries the local cuisines and is rewarded by delicious or intriguing tastes. In the real world, however, squeamish eaters and sometimes even accommodating diners will find foods that repel them for one reason or another. In this manner, taste can also be a visceral and immediate indication that, to borrow from the Wizard of Oz, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore!” Yet there is something oddly satisfying about finding a repulsive new food, as it confirms that there are significant differences in eating habits and choices across the world. It would be disappointing if everyone everywhere ate the same things and yearned for the same C h a p t e r S e v e n Maxine E. McBrinn The King of Fruits or an Acquired Taste? Durian Maxine E. McBrinn 128 flavors. There are foods that are highly sought after in one place but arouse immediate disgust in diners from other places. For example, ripe European cheeses can also be viewed as clotted, rotting milk, a view held by many Asians, who would never think of nibbling on such a thing. In turnabout, Asian delicacies such as kimchi and the so-called thousand-year-old eggs may be refused by suspicious Westerners. Some people are immediately repulsed by the idea of eating familiar (or not so familiar) animals, such as horses, dogs, snakes, or snails—meats that are enjoyed elsewhere. Many of the foods that arouse such divergent views are from animal sources, such as meat or dairy foods (Harris 1985; Simoons 1994), but there are also plant foods that are unappreciated by some diners. Many people, for example, dislike okra because of its texture when completely cooked, which some malign as “slimy” and for which the formal term, mucilaginous, suggests a comparison to mucus. One of the risks and rewards to traveling is to try these foods for oneself. The joy of being in a new place is to try as many local culinary favorites as possible. Much of what is available to eat day in and day out can get boring, but new foods and new spices may reawaken our enthusiasm. But more than this, food is a shortcut into experiencing new worlds and new lives. Food informs us about the environment, about the plants and animals that live in the area (Messer 1984, 1989; Mintz and Du Bois 2002). For example, while it is appropriate to find fresh seafood near the ocean, catfish, trout, and other freshwater fish would be expected at inland locations. Cuisine also tells us a lot about the history of the place: about how and when nonnative foods arrived and how they became incorporated into the local customs (Sokolov 1991). In this way, local foods encapsulate the relationships among history, the environment, and outside influences. One of the surprises from a visit to Kenya was the frequency that cabbage and potatoes were offered, legacies of that country’s colonial past. Food also informs us about economics and cultural training. For example, tortillas are portable and widely used when people travel to their workplace, whereas soups imply local diners. Woks use less energy to heat, for when fuel is scarce, and hot tea warms chilled bodies and cold fingers. Through food, through tastes and textures, visitors absorb some of that place into their bodies and make it a part of themselves. Within any given society, some foods are considered to be especially suitable for men, or for women, for children, or for elders, for healthy young adults, or for invalids (Messer 1984, 1989; Mintz and Du Bois 2002; McKay 1980; Wilson 1975, 1980). There are foods that are considered bad for pregnant women, and foods that will boost the immune system. Some foods will heighten sexual desire and others will encourage sleep. There are foods that are eaten in a homemade meal, others that are more often eaten in...