The Train and I Both Agree, That Stinks

There are two entities here in China and perhaps other Asian countries that haunt me. They seem to pop out of nowhere and make me walk faster and hold my breath. These things are tofu and durian.

Well, to be more specific stinky tofu which is not a hyperbole, its literal English name is stinky tofu. There are actually dozens of types of tofu that Chinese eat daily which come in various ways like noodles, flat squares, or the stereotypical white blocks and are non-smelly. Stinky tofu is created by fermenting the tofu in a stew of vegetables and meats and leaving it there for a few months to age. It is served fried on sticks or in bowls and is blue/black/or brown and it smells like an open latrine.
When I was touring Hong Kong I would come across these food markets and was almost knocked out by this powerful smell. I literally thought people were relieving themselves in the streets. It wasn't until Halloween weekend when I was with my friends in Shanghai when they asked if I wanted tofu when I learned the truth. When we approached a food booth I stopped, it was that smell again! My friends started to laugh at me and told me that most foreigners hate stinky tofu and won't go near it. To this day, I still have not eaten it and will continue to not eat stinky tofu.

The other stinky food in China is durian. Durian is a fruit that has spikes on the outside of it and is bright yellow on the inside and is about the size of a basketball. It smells kind of like sour milk. I ate this by accident on two occasions, well kind of.
First accidental eating of durian was at a mall where a booth was giving out free candy samples. Since the store had mangoes on its stall I assumed it was mango flavored but it was actually durian flavored. It was eating a sock through your nose.
The second time was when I ordered ice cream and pointed to what I thought said chocolate and was surprised to get yellow ice cream. Thinking it was vanilla I took a lick and came back with a bitter taste. It was durian! I did eat all of it since the flavor was very much mellowed out, and could stand it, but would not eat again.

I am not the only one who thinks that the stinky tofu and durian are yucky. In China, you are not allowed to bring open containers of durian or stinky tofu on ANY public transportation. Can you believe that? The smell is so powerful that it is banned on trains, subways, and buses.

Despite their stinky nature, you can find durian cake, durain smoothies, and durian ice cream (like I did) in China and it sells okay. The same goes for stinky tofu.
To me, I liken it to Western cheeses. Some of our cheese literally smells like feet and purposely have mold on them to eat and people love it!

However, you will have a hard time finding me eating blue cheese, durian, or stinky tofu any time soon.