Durian Party in Malaysia, Anyone?

Malaysia is having a last harvest before 2012 comes around and the quality of the durians is pretty good. Price is also reasonable due to the rainy seasons which discourage even the most ardent of fans from visiting a stall in a torrential rainstorm.

But all is not lost, now you can have a durian party in your house with just 2 days prior arrangement. Sounds like a lot of fun and could be a good deal, although I have no idea what the quality of durians would be like. So if you want to organize a durian party, do check out the article below, and let me know how it goes…..

 

From: The Star

Thursday December 29, 2011

Durian party, anyone?

KUALA LUMPUR: Fama is promoting its “Jom Makan Durian” festival by offering its services for durian parties at people’s homes.

Chairman Datuk Badruddin Amiruldin said the “Durian Party” was a Fama initiative to encourage more Malaysians to eat local fruits.

“With a minimum 50 people, the durian party can be held at home,” he explained.

“For instance, when a family wants to invite relatives and friends over to the house for the weekend, they can have such a party.

Durian lovers: Media guests having a feast at the Pesta Jom Makan Durian 2011 at the Telekom Muzium compound in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. – Bernama

“Fama will be there at the house,” he said. “We will set up the canopy and our officers will serve the fruits at a reasonable price,” he told reporters at a “Jom Makan Durian” festival at the Telekom Museum compound here yesterday.

Badruddin said the charges were RM15 per adult and RM8 per child.

“And, they can eat as much as they want.”

He said the programme was introduced two years ago but the service was only available in certain areas.

“Since durian is a seasonal tropical fruit, we could only sell it in certain months.

However, with the improvement of technology, we can pretty much get it all year round now,” he added.

He also noted that the programme was aimed at generating income for local durian farmers.

“We are trying to help farmers sell off their durians. All fruits are fresh from the orchards and no extra charge will be added in order for us to send it to their homes,” he said.

He said those interested could contact any Fama district offices or the headquarters to enquire about the party.

“They must also inform us at least two days before the party. If the programme is successful, we will extend the programme by promoting other fruits such as rambutan and mangosteens,” he said. – Bernama

Durian Stall in Jelatek (Part 2)

Durians for a bargain

Well you didn’t think that we’d stop there did you? How could we leave any stone unturned! Of course we had to walk over to the busy durian stall, to check out both the durians and the scene itself.

In the fifteen or twenty minutes that we had spent at stall #1, it looked as though the queue at stall #2 had not abated. People of all ages were standing by the stall appearing to be busy negotiating, pointing, sniffing, poking and some were just standing around and staring. Including us for the first minute or so. The peace did not last long. The service was just too good. Within the next minute, one of the stall keepers in a striped shirt that reminded me of “Where’s Wally” sauntered up to me and opened the conversation with a greeting and

That's my durian right there

asked me what I wanted (well, its obvious what I wanted, but what he meant was what type of durian). I asked him what he had and he said the best of the shelf was the D24. Hmm. D24 is a well known species and pretty consistent in its flavors. “How much is it?” I asked him not too loudly so that I didn’t inspire the other clients to do the same. He said “Normally it is 12 RM per kilo but I’ll give it to you for 11 RM per kilo”.

Well, I reasoned that if its RM 10 per kilo for a Kampong durian then RM 11 for a D24 is probably okay. Some people have told me that Jalan Jelatek is famous for overcharging for the durians, but hey anyone who complains should check out SS2 and Jalan Imbi where it definitely isn’t cheaper. I suppose its all about property prices and location, location, location. If you’re willing to venture a bit further out, prices drop by half or more.

3 for 10 from the bin, or 2 for 10 from the shelf

“Ok” I nodded, “How many” he asked, “how about two?”. “No, just one and make it a good one”.

“How about this one” He said sniffing then expertly slicing into the durian husk at all the right points to expose the flesh in every vesicle. I was impressed. It all looked a rich delicious yellow. “Okay” I said and he popped the durian on the weigh scale and said it would be RM24. While we were arranging the right amount of change, he popped the entire durian, husk and all into a plastic bag.

“No Encik, can you please put it into one of your take away boxes?”

Without hesitation, he took the durian round into the stall away from the crowd where there was a table and started opening up the durian to put it into the boxes.

The cause of all the chaos, cheap packets of durian

It was just starting the drizzle with a light rain. “Thank you” he said handing the bag with a two boxes inside to me, “please come again”.

So polite he was, I think I’ll have to.

Note: This stall is by the main road and has no tables or sidewalk so don’t expect to sit and savor your durian. You have to take it away or eat it standing by the road, just like how everyone else was doing it that day.