Durian & The Double Tenth

Today
is
The
Double
Tenth
Day






The Double Tenth is celebrated in Taiwan, mainland China and the Chinese diaspora to mark the start of the Wuchang Uprising (10.10.1911). A military mutiny which within months led to the downfall of the long-lasting Chinese monarchial system and the establishment of a republic -- yes, a republic -- with democratic ideals.

The Double Tenth is, if you like, Bastille Day à la chinoise.

The Double Tenth is also the birthday of a special friend of Mister B's. Though that friend no longer lives on a little island in the South China Sea, Mister B will celebrate that anniversary with one of the world's most wonderful fruits: durian.

Durian? Yes I Know. Durian has a bad press in the West, mostly as the result of negative accounts in numerous guide books published during the past forty years and written by ignorant, prejudiced British travel writers. Such negative reports are ironic given how bad British food used to be. It wasn't always the case:

A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy.
Alfred Russel Richard Wallace. 1865. Naturalist

Mercifully, Malaysians, Thais, Indonesians and southern Chinese have never read those modern guide books, or, if they have, they continue justly proud of their own culinary preferences -- a bit like the Brits with Marmite.

Which may also show that: one person's poisson (fish) is another person's poison.

Anyway, my friend (who is European) and myself came to our love of durian independently. And then we shared the joy, for a period of time. Now, we don't. So it goes.

Mister B wonders if durian is available where my friend is currently -- a chilly part of the USA near the Canadian border. Probably not. That being the case, Mister B on a little island in the South China Sea will do double helpings.

Happy birthday, you know who you are!