The Fruit Market

Hey guys,

I thought I would put up some pictures of some fruit. Its really no big deal, but I thought maybe you would like to see some pictures. Fruit markets are really popular here, and there are plenty of them. Many people sell their fruit on the street or in a small open market. The fruit here is so cheap. I don't remember exactly how much things were but it was really cheap. For example, the picture directly above here is of hundreds of lemons. They are green, not yellow. Maybe they are limes too or maybe they aren't even lemons. I don't really know and I don't care because it tastes good in drinks. Okay, well it says 29 above it and I think it was something like 10 of them for $0.29 which is like...$0.0089 USD. The bananas were...a batch of them for like the same price or something like that. I don't know if every fruit market has prices like this one, but this is so cheap isn't it? Maybe it was because I went there around 10 PM at night and they were on sale. I don't know.

If you are wondering how does an apple taste for example here compared to the US I would say it tastes like an apple. Apples here and in the US are both taste like an apple. Although some fruit here does taste pretty delicious. I don't know the names of all the fruits but I think most taste like tropical fruit or something like that. Also, the fruit here is seasonal. I wanted strawberries but no one has them right now because its not in the season. Maybe a different store like a big grocery or something would have them but not the markets.

There are a lot of fruit farmers here mainly on the eastern side of the island because it is more tropical there. Then all the food is shipped to other places in Taiwan. There are still fruit farmers all throughout Taiwan because I will see them here in the city selling their food.

I wanted to talk about one of the fruits I took a picture of. It is picture 3 and 4, and the fruit is called durian. I have heard that it tastes sooo good. I'm not too sure though. I can't eat it because I know I will throw up. Let me try to explain. It smells really bad to me. I know lots of peole don't mind the smell, but I can't stand it. It just smells bad trust me. It smells bad when you cut it open, so its ok in the market and stuff if its not open. Once its open...run! Do you guys know Andrew Zimmerman? He is the chef that travels around the world on the travel channel eating food and stuff. I saw him try and eat this fruit on a segment and he couldn't do it. He said it tastes something like a raw onion. Something like that. Then again, I saw Anthony Bourdain eat this like it was nothing. Knowing me I couldn't eat it. I haven't seen it but in the markets where Andrew Zimmerman went to, the durian vendor had to be a certain area away from the real market because the smell was so bad.

People have said durian and stinky tofu ( thats another topic ) taste soooooooo good! I can't eat them because the smell alone makes me sick. Literally, it really does. I smelled stinky tofu and I threw up right there in the restaurant. Well, I guess I can talk about stinky tofu now since I brought it up. So everyone knows tofu right? Ok well the stinky part of the name of this snack comes from the sauce or maybe its the way its cooked. It is cooked in a bin of a dark liquid and then the tofu is deep fried into it. There are lots of different ways to cook it but this is the way they do it in the market. It is so popular here that you can't go to a market without seeing it.

So anyways, I went to a restaurant with open windows. The restaurant was really nice and cozy. I have smelled stinky tofu before so I know what it smells like, but I thought I could try the restaurant even though a stinky tofu vendor was next to it. So occassionaly i would smell the tofu being cooked which is ok in moderation. I can handle the smell little by little. I always hold my breath when I pass a stinky tofu vendor. I'm serious. So anyways, the smell just coming in through the windows and about 15 minutes into being there I threw up. I tried not to because I was telling myself you can't throw up here! I'm sorry though, I had to. Luckily I had a little plastic bag that I did it in. So maybe you guys can see how bad the smell is to me. I know lots of people don't mind the smell though. I want to try and explain the smell...it really smells like the sewage being cooked. That is the best way I can explain it, and I'm not joking. If anyone visited me here, I bet most people couldn't eat it.

Ok see you guys later!