尽管新冠疫情让泰国经济受到冲击，但榴莲种植户表示，这种热带水果正迎来有史以来最火爆的销售季之一。


这家名为Bsamfruit Durian Delivery的初创企业的卖点之一是，多数销售员都是赤膊的健身运动员。Photo credit: FTChinese

Eddy Nattapong Panastien, who works in logistics and lives in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai, had time on his hands because of Covid-19. So last month he launched a start-up, Bsamfruit Durian Delivery, which is devoted to south-east Asia’s trademark spiny, fleshy tropical fruit. 6park.com
埃迪?纳塔蓬?潘纳斯廷(Eddy Nattapong Panastien)在泰国北部城市清迈生活，从事物流工作，由于新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19，即2019冠状病毒病），他有了很多空闲时间。因此，上月，他创办了一家名为Bsamfruit Durian Delivery的初创企业，专门卖这种东南亚标志性的多刺、肉质肥厚的热带水果。
 6park.com
Mr Nattapong’s two partners are his brother, a gym owner, and a friend who has a restaurant. Both of their businesses were ordered to be closed under Thailand’s anti-coronavirus lockdown. 6park.com
纳塔蓬的两个合伙人是他的兄弟（一位健身房老板）以及一个开餐馆的朋友。在泰国抗击新冠疫情的封锁措施之下，这两位合伙人的公司都被勒令关闭。



“It was too boring for us to stay at home and do nothing,” Mr Nattapong said over a video call as several shirtless men packed and carted fruit in the background. “We asked: ‘What can we do?’ Durian was the answer.” 6park.com
纳塔蓬在视频通话中说：“呆在家里什么都不做，简直太无聊了。我们问：‘我们能做什么?’答案是榴莲。”视频电话背景中几位赤膊的男士正在打包和装运水果。
 6park.com
It is Thailand’s hot season, with temperatures in the high 30s, and the air is pungent with the aroma of ripening mango, rambutan, mangosteen and durian — the delicacy nicknamed the King of Fruits. 6park.com
现在是泰国的热季，气温超过35摄氏度，空气中弥漫着芒果、红毛丹、山竹和榴莲成熟的芬芳——榴莲被誉为“水果之王”。



Thailand’s legion durian lovers need no prompting to buy. But the unique selling point of Mr Nattapong’s business is that its employees are buff bodybuilders — mostly men, with a few women. This beefcake has given the business a viral element among Thais who surf the web as they endure the country’s gradually easing lockdown. Bsamfruit’s Facebook page has more than 4,000 followers who go to it to watch men with washboard abs pack durians, inquire about prices and delivery, or leave lustful comments. 6park.com
泰国的榴莲爱好者购买榴莲不需要说服。但纳塔蓬公司的独特卖点在于，员工都是健壮的健美运动员，多数是男性，只有少数几个女性。“猛男”形象让该公司在泰国网民中迅速走红，泰国解封缓慢，封锁期间人们只能上网解闷。Bsamfruit在Facebook的主页有4000多粉丝，他们会到那里观看拥有搓衣板腹肌的“猛男”给榴莲打包、询问关于价格和送货的信息或者留下热情似火的评论。
 6park.com
Mr Nattapong’s pop-up business shows how Thais, whose livelihoods were upended by coronavirus, are seizing new opportunities as they can. It also attests to the resilience of demand for durian, a product seemingly impervious to the pandemic and the country’s worst recession since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. 6park.com
纳塔蓬迅速成立的公司表明，那些生计被疫情破坏的泰国人正尽力抓住新的机遇。这还证明了榴莲需求的韧性。榴莲似乎没有受到新冠疫情和泰国自1997年亚洲金融危机以来最严重衰退的影响。



Thailand’s coronavirus caseload, about 3,000 confirmed infections so far, is small for a country of 69m. But the grounding of flights and the disruption of supply chains have hammered its tourism- and export-dependent economy. Yet durian is having one of its strongest-ever selling seasons, according to growers in Thailand, the world’s biggest durian producer, and in China, its biggest market. “I think durian is the only fruit that Covid-19 cannot do anything to,” said Thiraphat Aunchai, president of the Thailand Durian Growers’ Confederation. Prices for the fruit are set to rise about 15 per cent this year thanks to Chinese wholesalers, he said, and growers have shipped more than 100,000 tonnes to China. 6park.com
泰国的新冠确诊病例迄今约有3000例，这对于一个拥有6900万人口的国家来说不多。但航班停飞和供应链中断对其依赖旅游业和出口的经济造成打击。然而，据泰国（全球最大的榴莲生产国）和中国（最大榴莲市场）的种植户表示，榴莲正迎来有史以来最火爆的销售季之一。泰国榴莲种植者联盟(Thailand Durian Growers’ Confederation)主席提拉帕?昂柴(Thiraphat Aunchai)表示：“我认为，榴莲是唯一不受新冠疫情影响的水果。”他表示，受中国批发商的推动，今年，榴莲价格将上涨约15%，种植户已向中国出口逾10万吨榴莲。
 6park.com
People rarely tell you they are indifferent to durian. The fruit’s creamy, fatty golden lobes have an overpowering scent. South-east Asia is replete with stern signs warning of fines for carrying the fruit on to planes, public transport or into hotel rooms. It also has a flavour everyone struggles to describe, from caramel or custard to chopped onions or sewage — or any combination of the above. 6park.com
很少有人会说自己对榴莲无所谓，人们要么特别喜欢，要么特别讨厌。榴莲柔滑肥厚的金黄色果肉有一种强烈的味道。东南亚到处都贴有告示，严厉警告人们如果将榴莲带上飞机、公共交通工具或酒店房间将被罚款。它的味道也是所有人都难以形容的，像焦糖、蛋奶、切碎的洋葱或下水道味，或上述任何味道的组合。
 6park.com
Whether ladled over a sticky rice dessert, used to fill chocolates, or eaten on its own, it is an acquired taste with an addictive quality similar to that among fans of hot chillies. 6park.com
无论是浇在糯米甜点上，填在巧克力里还是单独食用，它都是一种需要学习才能爱上的味道，让人上瘾，就像爱吃辣椒的人无辣不欢一样。
 6park.com
Chinese diners have especially taken to durian in recent years, causing a rise in prices and a run in demand among south-east Asian growers. In Vietnam’s central highlands, some coffee farmers have uprooted their plants to make way for durian to meet the buoyant demand. 6park.com
最近几年，中国食客特别喜欢榴莲，这促使榴莲价格上涨，并推动东南亚榴莲种植者的需求激增。在越南中部高地，一些种植咖啡的农户已挖掉咖啡树，转而种植榴莲，以满足旺盛的需求。



In the 2018 season, customers of Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce titan, snapped up a record 80,000 premium Thai Monthong durians in just one minute. In March and April, when China was exiting lockdown and Thailand entering it, the e-tailer’s Freshippo grocery chain registered a threefold year-on-year increase in sales. “Demand for durians by Chinese customers has been strong,” the company said. Durians are normally shipped to China by land, but because of the pandemic all are being sent by sea, doubling the time it takes to reach market to 15 days, Alibaba said. 6park.com
在2018年的收获季，中国电商巨头阿里巴巴(Alibaba)的消费者在短短一分钟内抢购了创纪录的8万枚泰国金枕头(Thai Monthong)榴莲。今年3月和4月，在中国解除封锁、泰国实施封锁时，阿里巴巴旗下生鲜电商连锁盒马(Freshippo)的销售额同比增长2倍。该公司表示：“中国消费者对榴莲的需求一直强劲。”榴莲一般都是通过陆路运到中国，但由于此次疫情，所有的运输都通过海运，这导致榴莲投入市场的时间翻了一番，达到15天。
 6park.com
Mr Nattapong, the Chiang Mai merchant, is now thinking of opening a branch in Bangkok. He says a group of businessmen are interested in buying his brand. He is also thinking of broadening the business into a distribution centre for fruits from other parts of Thailand, once the current durian season is past. “It’s just once a year that people can try durian,” he said. “No matter how much money people have to pay, they want to try it.” 6park.com
清迈商人纳塔蓬现在正考虑在曼谷开设一家分店。他说，一些商人有意收购他的品牌。他还在考虑在当前的榴莲季结束时，把业务拓展至销售来自泰国其他地方的水果。“吃榴莲的季节每年只有一次，”他说，“不管花多少钱，他们都想尝一下。”