Honestly, the only thing I know about durians is that my best friend from college, Duryan-with-a-y, had a photo of one on her dorm room door freshman year with a note: “This is NOT me!”

Growing up with that name, obviously, led her to have an at least passing familiarity with the produce. She assured me that they smell “godawful” and taste “OK.”

Duryan died in 2021. We had a lot of keep-it-light conversations while she was sick, and one of them was about her disappointment that in a world of kale and quinoa, her misspelled namesake would never get any love and take off as a fad food.

She’d still be disappointed today. I asked four of my friends if they’d ever had it and got a unanimous “nope” response. She might be a little mollified that dragon fruit appears to be a thing now; I’ve even seen it in local groceries in my hidebound neck of the woods. (I bought one. I was not impressed. It was very pretty, but just tasted like plant matter to me.) Then again, dragonberry juice was getting some attention on General Hospital a couple weeks back, which probably indicates that the trend is dying if not already dead.

Does anyone know anything more about durian? Have you ever had it? Tell me about it and I’ll send you a durian-free book or baked good!