It’s durian season, and you may have seen durian seller on the road side by now. What is durian? It’s a fruit or better kown as the “king of the fruit”.
If you’re in the south-east area, you must have heard about the myth where durian and alcohol is a big no-no. However, it has no scientifically proven but nobody would have gone that far to know the result. However, without much hesitation, I went google about it to check if there is any source prove the believes.
There’s a section in durian‘s wikipedia mentioning more than that, myth.
Southeast Asian folk beliefs, as well as traditional Chinese medicine, consider the durian fruit to have warming properties liable to cause excessive sweating. The traditional method to counteract this is to pour water into the empty shell of the fruit after the pulp has been consumed and drink it. An alternative method is to eat the durian in accompaniment with mangosteen, which is considered to have cooling properties. People with high blood pressure or pregnant women are traditionally advised not to consume durian.
Another common local belief is that the durian is harmful when eaten with coffee or alcoholic beverages. The latter belief can be traced back at least to the 18th century when Rumphius stated that one should not drink alcohol after eating durians as it will cause indigestion and bad breath. In 1929, J. D. Gimlette wrote in his Malay Poisons and Charm Cures that the durian fruit must not be eaten with brandy. In 1981, J. R. Croft wrote in his Bombacaceae: In Handbooks of the Flora of Papua New Guinea that a feeling of morbidity often follows the consumption of alcohol too soon after eating durian. Several medical investigations on the validity of this belief have been conducted with varying conclusions.
[…]A common saying is that a durian has eyes and can see where it is falling because the fruit allegedly never falls during daylight hours when people may be hurt.[…]
[…] A saying in Indonesian, ketiban durian runtuh, which translates to “getting a fallen durian”, means receiving an unexpected luck or fortune. […]
Wikipedia
It is really interesting to know there are so much stories or belief behind the “king of the fruit”.
