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

2025-09-23 · 51 min · 11 entities

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

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discusses Arts concept

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Episode description as stored

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 choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices