Durian Delight and Feijoa Fun: Adventures in Banned, Forgotten, and Unusual Fruit

This week on Gastropod, a feast of fruits! Specifically, feijoa and
durian—and, if you haven’t heard of either, you’re not alone.
Unlike the ubiquitous strawberry or banana, durian and feijoa are
only popular in a handful of countries and almost unknown in the
US, and we wanted to know why—especially because the people who
love them really love them. For New Zealanders, like
journalist Kate Evans, feijoa is *the* taste of home, even though
it's almost forgotten in its original homeland, in Brazil and
Uruguay. Meanwhile, the smell of the durian is so intense and
distinctive—Julia Child likened it to “dead babies mixed with
strawberries and Camembert”—that it's famously banned from public
transportation in Singapore. But for durian lovers, like the cancer
expert who decoded the fruit's genome, it inspires something close
to obsession. Join us this episode for a weird fruit adventure, as
we discover why the durian and feijoa inspire such strong feelings,
and why they never made it big in the US. Learn more about your ad
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