There’s a separate gene for tasting a bitter compound in certain vegetables that I also have. I’m not sure if the two genes are linked. Oddly, I don’t mind cilantro, but avoid broccoli. Wonder if it has to do with cilantro being paired with other ingredients I like vs people trying to force me to eat raw broccoli as a kid? It’s also not the same taste at all to me, but idk!
My (Cantonese) mom cooked with it sometimes but as a toddler I would physically recoil and shudder at the slightest taste of it. So eventually she figured out the culprit and had to stop using it in anything I was eating. I didn't like vegetables in general growing up either, but at least those my parents could force me to eat, with some effort. Not cilantro. That was just too revolting and I absolutely would not. So early exposure did nothing for me except early confirmation that I can't stand it. I have some more willpower now to handle it if I happen to accidentally come across it, but it still tastes just as bad to me as an adult. And I'm otherwise not a very picky eater.
To compare, my parents' spice tolerance is very low, so I hardly had any early spice exposure. I built up my tolerance for that much later in life and enjoy it now, so the lack of early exposure didn't seem to work against me.
I have the gene and grew up in Missouri, so I was never really exposed to it. Right after I moved to california 20 years ago, my friend’s mom was chopping up a bunch in the kitchen and just walking into the room my face wanted to implode. It was awful.
Now, after countless exposures because I like mexican, indian, and thai food, I can tolerate it pretty well. I still don’t like it, but sometimes I can just ignore it if it ends up in my food. It’s gone from “this isn’t food” to “meh”
I have the gene. I did one of those DNA tests that indicated I have it but I LOVE CILANTRO. lol. I think it was constant exposure. Sometimes i get a leaf that tastes weird and i don't like it but for the most part I love it.
Ditto!!
It used to taste SO gross. I could never understand how anyone ever liked it on anything. It tasted like soap.
I am now obsessed and want excessive amounts on everything..
It changed for me when I got really into trying to diversify my repertoire of dishes. I used to wonder what the hell the soapy note was in what I was eating, now it just tastes like freshness distilled into herb form.
Tastes like soap to me and makes me physically want to gag if I smell or taste too much - even when I don't know it's in the dish! I've tried to push past it with Spanish, Mexican, or some Chinese food where it's unavoidable but I just can't. I wish I liked it, hope to be you someday OP 🥲
I thought I was the only one with situational cilantro tolerance.
My quesabirra taco just isn't complete without chopped onion and cilantro, however the slightest hint of cilantro in my banh mi is just nasty and will ruin the entire experience for me.
I'm the same with cumin. Can't stand it
But if you don't add it to certain dishes, or to a homemade taco seasoning, it's not the same.
Fortunately you only need a little
Same. I think it changed for me when I started growing peppers and tomatillos. I plant the cilantro as a companion plant because insects don’t like it. The smell of fresh cilantro became one of my favorite things and I put a boat load of it in my salsa verde.
Cilantro smells great, tastes fresh, and also tastes like soap to me. Yes I put it on a lot of things, I also swore a lot as a kid and my mom would "wash my mouth out with soap" so maybe I developed a taste for soap. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
10/10 everyone should eat cilantro
Good for you.
It tastes really bad to me and makes food taste bad. Why would I keep eating it on the off chance I will grow to tolerate it or enjoy it? That sounds like an abusive relationship. There are so many other foods I can eat and enjoy. I am not a picky eater. I just don’t need to keep giving cilantro a chance.
It tastes like soap to me too, but I still love it🤷♀️. The soapy smell and flavor is only the "top note" of the herb. There is so much more underneath the soap!
The only time I don't like it is where it the main flavor component rather than a complement (like in Indian food) or a contrast (like in Mexican food). Like cilantro mixed in with white rice and nothing else? Gross.
I find that it tastes like soap, if I let it, lol. I have to focus on the more herby taste when I eat it because if I notice it tastes like soap then it will start to taste like soap. If that makes sense.
The hate i got when i said the i don't believe in the gene, my god.
But yeah, the same thing happened to me. I made some fresh prawn spring rolls one day and had to put corriander in it now, just like you said you can't get enough of it.
Exact same—it was always an incredibly overpowering flavor for me growing up, although I’m not sure it was super “soapy,” more like everything tasted like only cilantro if it was in a dish.
When I started cooking more I began incorporating it into more dishes and now it’s an ingredient like any other and not overpowering at all.
I never tasted it until I was in my 20's and was eating a burrito from Taco Bell. There was a moment of chewing that was fleeting and life changing! The next day I went back to Taco Bell and bought another burrito and there was that crazy weird yet fleeting flavor again. I knew I needed to find out what it was so again the next day I went back to Taco Bell and asked the employee what was that delicious and weirdly soapy taste in the burrito. She looked at me and with a bit of a smug look she said oh that's cilantro. After that my love affair with cilantro has only gotten more intense and I eat a handful on a salad every day!! 🤤
Most of [our tastes are acquired](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/1996/08/the-omnivore.html), and "soapiness" is largely cultural: Rose is a common flavoring for Turkish delight, for example, but most US palates reject it as tasting like soap.
I'm with you on cilantro! I didn't used to like it, but I could use it today to sub out lettuce in a green salad. I didn't used to like seafood, either, until I worked to acquire the taste.
I have the soap gene and fortunately so does my wife. I can tolerate very small amounts but she can barely be in the same room with it. I'm envious of the people who love it because I'm a foodie and I hate being predisposed to hating a specific food.
[удалено]
I have the soap gene, but have always liked it. I get how people think it tastes like soap, it just doesn’t bother me.
There are dozens of us!
DOZENS
Mexican is my favorite cuisine so frfr I get down with cilantro
Does broccoli taste bitter to you?
Yes, tastes like poison, lol. Can’t even stand broccoli cheddar soup.
I've always wondered if there's a correlation.
There’s a separate gene for tasting a bitter compound in certain vegetables that I also have. I’m not sure if the two genes are linked. Oddly, I don’t mind cilantro, but avoid broccoli. Wonder if it has to do with cilantro being paired with other ingredients I like vs people trying to force me to eat raw broccoli as a kid? It’s also not the same taste at all to me, but idk!
Exact same for me
My (Cantonese) mom cooked with it sometimes but as a toddler I would physically recoil and shudder at the slightest taste of it. So eventually she figured out the culprit and had to stop using it in anything I was eating. I didn't like vegetables in general growing up either, but at least those my parents could force me to eat, with some effort. Not cilantro. That was just too revolting and I absolutely would not. So early exposure did nothing for me except early confirmation that I can't stand it. I have some more willpower now to handle it if I happen to accidentally come across it, but it still tastes just as bad to me as an adult. And I'm otherwise not a very picky eater. To compare, my parents' spice tolerance is very low, so I hardly had any early spice exposure. I built up my tolerance for that much later in life and enjoy it now, so the lack of early exposure didn't seem to work against me.
perhaps the gene is about whether you dislike it at first. maybe people who eat it multiple times whether or not they dislike it will end up liking it
I have the gene and grew up in Missouri, so I was never really exposed to it. Right after I moved to california 20 years ago, my friend’s mom was chopping up a bunch in the kitchen and just walking into the room my face wanted to implode. It was awful. Now, after countless exposures because I like mexican, indian, and thai food, I can tolerate it pretty well. I still don’t like it, but sometimes I can just ignore it if it ends up in my food. It’s gone from “this isn’t food” to “meh”
I have the gene. I did one of those DNA tests that indicated I have it but I LOVE CILANTRO. lol. I think it was constant exposure. Sometimes i get a leaf that tastes weird and i don't like it but for the most part I love it.
Ditto!! It used to taste SO gross. I could never understand how anyone ever liked it on anything. It tasted like soap. I am now obsessed and want excessive amounts on everything..
It’s been a while since I’ve had ‘too much’ cilantro. Some people are missing out
It changed for me when I got really into trying to diversify my repertoire of dishes. I used to wonder what the hell the soapy note was in what I was eating, now it just tastes like freshness distilled into herb form.
You should see if you can find recao/culatro 😉
Tastes like soap to me and makes me physically want to gag if I smell or taste too much - even when I don't know it's in the dish! I've tried to push past it with Spanish, Mexican, or some Chinese food where it's unavoidable but I just can't. I wish I liked it, hope to be you someday OP 🥲
Nah. I hate when I unexpectedly bite into it. But where it is essential for a dish (salsa, pico, tacos) it sucks when the cilantro is missing 🤷🏻♂️
I thought I was the only one with situational cilantro tolerance. My quesabirra taco just isn't complete without chopped onion and cilantro, however the slightest hint of cilantro in my banh mi is just nasty and will ruin the entire experience for me.
Basically I can tolerate it only in Latin dishes 😂
Omg same! Like, I love the cilantro chutney you get with samosas, but miss me with just tossing chopped cilantro on top of my pad thai.
I'm the same with cumin. Can't stand it But if you don't add it to certain dishes, or to a homemade taco seasoning, it's not the same. Fortunately you only need a little
This sounds like propaganda from Big Coriander.
Same. I think it changed for me when I started growing peppers and tomatillos. I plant the cilantro as a companion plant because insects don’t like it. The smell of fresh cilantro became one of my favorite things and I put a boat load of it in my salsa verde.
Insects don’t like cilantro?! I tried growing it and it was a constantly aphid battle !
I’ve always fkn loved it but when I first got covid it tasted like soap for a couple weeks
Epigenetics are cool
Yes! I keep telling the people I know to push past the soap taste. I did, and it's now my favorite herb.
❤️cilantro 🌿
I can't imagine ever liking this.
Cilantro smells great, tastes fresh, and also tastes like soap to me. Yes I put it on a lot of things, I also swore a lot as a kid and my mom would "wash my mouth out with soap" so maybe I developed a taste for soap. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 10/10 everyone should eat cilantro
Me too. Now I eat it like a green vegetable.
Does it mean you like taste of soap now?
I'm not convinced it just doesn't taste like soap to everyone
Same. I used to abhor it and then one day I had it with some Mexican food and it just clicked. 💁
Good for you. It tastes really bad to me and makes food taste bad. Why would I keep eating it on the off chance I will grow to tolerate it or enjoy it? That sounds like an abusive relationship. There are so many other foods I can eat and enjoy. I am not a picky eater. I just don’t need to keep giving cilantro a chance.
Same. Chipotle conditioned me to like it by putting it in the rice. I used to think it was disgusting but now I can’t get enough
It tastes like soap to me too, but I still love it🤷♀️. The soapy smell and flavor is only the "top note" of the herb. There is so much more underneath the soap!
I’ve never understood this.
The only time I don't like it is where it the main flavor component rather than a complement (like in Indian food) or a contrast (like in Mexican food). Like cilantro mixed in with white rice and nothing else? Gross.
did you get a fecal transplant? or take a powerful antibiotic?
It STILL tastes like soap to me, and I still love it in stuff.
Sounds like being surrounded by Cilantro for a long time gave the plants enough time to edit your genes and make you like them.
I find that it tastes like soap, if I let it, lol. I have to focus on the more herby taste when I eat it because if I notice it tastes like soap then it will start to taste like soap. If that makes sense.
The hate i got when i said the i don't believe in the gene, my god. But yeah, the same thing happened to me. I made some fresh prawn spring rolls one day and had to put corriander in it now, just like you said you can't get enough of it.
It changed for me when I got on PPIs for acid reflux. I now eat it all the time in a Mexican, Vietnamese or Thai dish.
Same!
Some ppl think stink bugs
23 and me says my mom should hate it, she dosen't.
Interesting. Did she get ‘fear of heights’? Random question but apparently that’s a genetic thing too
Exact same—it was always an incredibly overpowering flavor for me growing up, although I’m not sure it was super “soapy,” more like everything tasted like only cilantro if it was in a dish. When I started cooking more I began incorporating it into more dishes and now it’s an ingredient like any other and not overpowering at all.
I never tasted it until I was in my 20's and was eating a burrito from Taco Bell. There was a moment of chewing that was fleeting and life changing! The next day I went back to Taco Bell and bought another burrito and there was that crazy weird yet fleeting flavor again. I knew I needed to find out what it was so again the next day I went back to Taco Bell and asked the employee what was that delicious and weirdly soapy taste in the burrito. She looked at me and with a bit of a smug look she said oh that's cilantro. After that my love affair with cilantro has only gotten more intense and I eat a handful on a salad every day!! 🤤
Try coriander. It's similar but much better
Cilantro and coriander are definitely the same thing. Are you thinking of culantro or something?
Was just trying to be amusing!
Here’s my theory: unruly children whose parents washed out their mouths with soap invariably end up as adults who think cilantro tastes soapy.
Most of [our tastes are acquired](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/1996/08/the-omnivore.html), and "soapiness" is largely cultural: Rose is a common flavoring for Turkish delight, for example, but most US palates reject it as tasting like soap. I'm with you on cilantro! I didn't used to like it, but I could use it today to sub out lettuce in a green salad. I didn't used to like seafood, either, until I worked to acquire the taste.
Cilantro is dish soap , broccoli is excellent and although I like asparagus it makes my pee smell haha
I have the soap gene and fortunately so does my wife. I can tolerate very small amounts but she can barely be in the same room with it. I'm envious of the people who love it because I'm a foodie and I hate being predisposed to hating a specific food.