Braved the durian at a 99 Ranch in Monterey Park

I stood in the produce aisle for 10 minutes trying to decide between the frozen jackfruit and a whole durian. Picked the durian because it was on sale for $18 and I figured I'd regret not trying it. The smell hit me like a dumpster behind a seafood place, but honestly the custard texture was kinda good. Has anyone else been tricked by the hype into buying something weird and actually liking it?

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the_derek1mo ago

Stick with that durian because it opens the door to a whole world of stuff that looks gross but tastes great. I did the same thing with stinky tofu at a night market and now I crave it, which still surprises me every time. It's funny how we judge food by smell or looks first, but our brains can totally flip once we push past that. That same pattern shows up everywhere, like with ugly fruits at farmers markets or weird looking vegetables that turn out way better than the pretty ones. Once you break that first wall of disgust, you start trusting your taste buds more than your eyes or nose. Now I'm always grabbing the weirdest thing on the shelf just to see if it's secretly amazing.

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elliot_johnson311mo ago

Trust your nose less and your spoon more after that first bite. Durian's the gateway drug for every weird fermented thing out there. What's the next ugly food you're gonna try?

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