Biting off more than you can chew

Stinky tofu is much milder in flavor than aroma. At least the stuff I ate in both Yunnan and Taiwan was, Hunan may have a different kind.
I found it incredibly tasty, like a mild gorgonzola. Fried or boiled in soup are both amazing.
In Taiwan it's super convenient because as soon as you get punched in the nose by the aroma of hot, unwashed crotch you can follow that scent and you'll almost always reach an amazing night market with a range of delicious food and other vendors.
- Can confirm, while Hunan stinky tofu is stinky, it doesn't taste "stinky".

The design is very Hunan

Hey at least they tried it. I’ll give them props for that.
I probably wouldn’t based on the name, if I’m being honest.

Has anyone else bought a durian fruit even after being warned about it? Talk about acquired tastes...
- Guess you just lack the necessary enduriance
- Tried some that a friend brought over to a different friend's apartment. Friend freaked out because his roommate gets upset about strong smells. 7/10, would eat that oddly unpleasant fruit again to ruin another friend's apartment.
  
  Bringing something that you know some ppl hate the smell of to their homes is crazy. I hope it didn't stink too badly.
- No. No. No. Don't just buy a raw one if you don't know what to do with it. Find a place that has prepared it in something. I recommend durian ice cream. The waitress warned me that it tasted like gas. I asked her if she meant the fuel or farts and she just repeated "gassy". It smelled sweet like unburned gasoline at a classic car show and earthy like a belt loosening fart. And yet somehow it doesn't actually taste bad. It's mostly just unsettling that it tastes as good as it does. I'm not sure I'd order it again, except on a dare or to horrify any companions that haven't experienced it yet. It's like spicy food, sometimes you've got to power through the initial stink/spice to really get to the hidden flavors.
- How dare you talk bad about the king
- Smells awful sure, but the taste is great. Like a slightly mustardy jackfruit.
- Durians are delicious. I've read somewhere it depends on whether you can detect the compounds that smell bad.
  
  I can definitely detect the smell. I had to stop breathing to be able to put it in my mouth. But I liked the taste a lot - it reminded me of a high quality very creamy camembert, quite delicious. I then treated it like cheese - it goes well with red wine.

It always amazes me the types of things humans come up with to eat. I can only assume the origins were from necessity and became part of culture, rather than someone's idea out of the blue or for a dare.
- Blue cheese is on the list, and oh my is it fantastic.
  
  Cheese in general, but some are more on the edge than others. I mean, once you learn how cheese is made...
  
  As a french person I find it funny that you think blue cheese smells bad. I mean we have Munster, Maroille and a whole bunch of other cheeses that smell a hundred time worse and that we love dearly. :)
  
  You are so very wrong. Blue cheese tastes like vomit and ruins any dish it is in.
- See: the Japanese dish of fermented (some would say "rotten") soybeans called natto. Even a lot of Japanese people find it disgusting.
  
  Key trick to eating natto is adding a dash of soy sauce in it, makes the dish so much tastier and honestly it’s pretty yum, if you don’t eat natto alone and add other seasonings etc.

I like to put superfirm tofu in a salt water brine, the chuck it in the back of the fridge for about two months (I always have three bricks going). I have no idea if that is what stinky tofu is but it tastes like a delicious and mild ~~blue cheese~~ when crumbled.
PS: If you let it sit for just two weeks, it tastes like a salty Queso Fresco.
EDIT: I just tasted it. It is bang on feta cheese.
- Stinky tofu is usually fermented directly in rotting vegetable matter, I believe. But that sounds like the flavor, yeah.
  Have you tried deep frying it? The crispy outside and soft inside is delightful. It's often served with a little cooked cabbage.
  
  I have tried frying it but it kind if kills the "blue cheese" flavor, IMHO. That said, fried "salty tofu" (in extra salty brine for two weeks), is amazing and I highly recommend it.
  
  What people do to give an almost tasteless substance some taste.
- Ooh this sounds good

Had stinky tofu with curdled pig's blood in Taipei a while back. The people I was visiting had me try it at a night market. The smell was much worse than the texture or flavor. I could totally see someone who had grown up with it considering it comfort food.
Helped that we had all had a fair bit to drink already.

I ate lots of deep fried mild beige stinky tofu in Taiwan. Once I had a meal with a bit of old grey stinky tofu - the smell of summer garbage was disturbing. Try the slightly aged mild beige stuff first.
While we're at it, try a translucent thousand year egg too, preferably as part of a dessert. Not bad, just weird.

It is hard to get past the smell. But if you can, it's very good.

A few months ago I was in Taiwan and accidentally tried stinky tofu. It was pretty good actually! What happened was we were up really early in the morning before the stall's smell set in and I grabbed a snack. I honestly don't know if I could eat it with the smell as strong as it gets but maybe if I grabbed some and brought it to a different location it would still work for me

I ordered papaya salad ages back and was told basically the same thing (Vietnamese? Thai? Idk). It was unpleasant but I liked it? I guess I liked it? I ate it, tho it took a while. It was very fishy, which I dislike. But idk, it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever had. And now I kinda want it again.
- If you had somtam it was Thai.
- I’m surprised they told you that tbh, Papaya Salad aka Somtam or (what northern Thai folks call) papaya bok bok, is prob one of the most popular orders esp for tourists that come to Thailand, though icl the papaya salad in Laos, is better imo (so much spicier and flavourful, and less sweet)