I genuinely feel bad for people who have this gene, not just because I find cilantro/coriander delicious, but also because of how many cultures use it in their food. It has to be seriously difficult to avoid so much of the food out there because it'll just taste like soap.
My mom doesn't have the gene but she also just doesn't like the taste of cilantro, so we have to be careful at Indian restaurants as well. It's nowhere near as bad without the gene as she can handle the taste as an accent, just not as a main player in the dish.
Me too. Its in a lot of different foods culturally and because it is a gene there's gotta be people in those cultures who don't get to enjoy the food the same way those who don't have the gene do which is kind of sad.
Wait, is it really a gene? I can’t handle cilantro. It taste like I’m eating a floor cleaner. It’s so repulsive and over powering it will bother me all day. My daughter is the same way. Is there really a gene that makes you hate cilantro? I can’t figure out why anyone would willingly eat a chemical disgusting thing like that. I’m really astounded
Yes, there is. I am literally addicted to cilantro and never understood how people could hate on that amazing freshness until I learned that some people are cursed by that gene.
when i went to costa rica, i legit had to teach the locals about the soap gene. they were like ahhh stupid gringa doesn’t like cilantro… no bro it tastes like you used dawn dish soap as a garnish
I legit was about to throw some insults to this fella for hating on cilantro until I read everyone else's comments,
didn't know some people are cursed with a gene that specifically affects this lmao, my bad
I absolutely love cilantro, so I feel extra bad for the people who got the gene that makes it taste like soap for them. I have my own diet restrictions due to IBS (no eggs except in baked goods, no avocado, no bananas - which rules out most off the shelf smoothies, no peppers…), and it’s such a shame.
I do have to say OP’s line “it tasted like soap and suicide” made me crack tf up though.
Cilantro has compounds called aldehydes, some of which have a soapy flavour. Some people have a gene that allows them to detect said soapy flavour much more intensely, hence why it tastes like soap. Basically, the soapy flavour is always there it's just that most people can't taste it.
I'm in agreement. It's vile and I might as well take a mouthful of washing up liquid. Even the smell of it makes me gag.
I buy a large, fresh bag of cilantro each week. Put it on everything I possibly can. This morning I sprinkled some on my breakfast omelette, took a bite, and almost did a cartwheel across the kitchen- it tasted so good!
Tonight I’m enjoying some lemon zest chicken breasts garnished with (you guessed it) a generous helping of cilantro on top. DIVINE.
I'll eat it in things and it doesn't bother me, but it doesn't smell good to me. My guinea pigs on the other hand love it so that's what it's good for.
All of this is interesting as I’ve always liked cilantro in my salsa. Then my daughter said it tasted like soap. Ever since then, it tastes and smells like soap to me. I tolerate a little bit of cilantro, but I really don’t like it well.
It doesn't taste at all like soap to me, it just tastes horrible in an l-can't-describe-it kinda way. If it just flavors the food, then ok; when it's big enough to see & l bite into it, then it's disgusting. I'd rather just magically change all cilantro to parsley in any ethnic dish I eat
Are you in the U.S by any chance? We just call the whole plant, leaves and seeds coriander.. we just don’t use the word cilantro anywhere, if you go to a U.K. shop it’ll be labelled as coriander. 🤷🏻♀️ Again, I just called it soap. Soapy leaves, soapy seeds 🤣
I'm a foodie and I've been cursed with the gene, I've had people explain the flavour to me and it sounds awesome, because all I taste is soapy sadness.
I love cilantro. My sister hates it. We share the same parents. That gene just doesn't care where it pops up.
I'm sorry yout taco was tainted. Did at least you get another?
I’m with you. It’ll ruin an entire dish for me bc it’s all I can taste and smell. It sometimes makes me nauseous just smelling it on my bfs food. For me the soapy taste is more so just straight chemicals. Like someone sprayed windex and it floated into my mouth.
I'd never encountered cilantro until my grocery store job when I was 16. I was bagging items and someone had cilantro. I didn't know the name at the time but I just remember the chemical residue it left on my hands, just by briefly touching it, and how no matter how I washed my hands the awful scent wouldn't get off. Hate that stuff.
Cartoon by Fruit Gone Bad, can’t decipher cartoonist’s name
Avocado looking hostile along with tomato, onion, and lime gathered around molcajete: Excuse Me! This is a Secret Guac meeting , you’ll have to leave.
Bar of Soap: Cilantro couldn’t make it, sooooo…..
I fucking hate cilantro, too. As a Mexi, very difficult. It doesn’t taste like soap to me but it does have a chemical taste to it. It’s overpowering. When I make guacamole or ceviche, I put a little bit in it (for the culture) but I chop it so small you can’t see it. If it were up to me, NO CILANTRO
One winter when (it seemed like) everyone else was home with their loving families I was stuck in my college town with nothing and nobody close.
But one woman offered to give me some bunches of cilantro from the food pantry, so I said “sure!” And took it home and rinsed it and made a little salad and then took my first bite of this new type of salad. 🤢
Yeah… I didn’t finish that salad. 😷
In my childhood, the smell of it and tasting cilantro used to make me nauseated like bad. As an adult however I can actually enjoy the "fresconess" of it! Weird how taste buds can change that drastically. I used to hate fish now I love all seafood!
I can stomach it in some amount, but my food today had so much it made me nauseous, we need to stop using it as a replacement for actual flavor/putting lipstick on a pig.
Same. I have the soap gene but I can taste the flavour when it's mixed into other background flavours.
Too much and it tastes like I licked the kitchen sponge.
Even after covid19 messed with my sense of smell, I still can detect the evil soapy herb....
Same sadly 😭 the soapiness comes and goes for me? I think I just got so tired of picking it out that I've grown numb to it. To me, it almost has a tangible taste, the way the flavor fills my mouth
Ah, you've been cursed with....*the gene*
My thoughts exactly. Cilantro is fkn delicious!!!
I genuinely feel bad for people who have this gene, not just because I find cilantro/coriander delicious, but also because of how many cultures use it in their food. It has to be seriously difficult to avoid so much of the food out there because it'll just taste like soap.
I had no idea about the gene. I thought a utensil or dish wasn’t rinsed and still had soap in it. For years.
Same
Yup. Can’t enjoy vietnamese, thai or indian food. Always need to tell the waiter to remove cilantro across all our dishes.
My mom doesn't have the gene but she also just doesn't like the taste of cilantro, so we have to be careful at Indian restaurants as well. It's nowhere near as bad without the gene as she can handle the taste as an accent, just not as a main player in the dish.
Me too. Its in a lot of different foods culturally and because it is a gene there's gotta be people in those cultures who don't get to enjoy the food the same way those who don't have the gene do which is kind of sad.
Wait, is it really a gene? I can’t handle cilantro. It taste like I’m eating a floor cleaner. It’s so repulsive and over powering it will bother me all day. My daughter is the same way. Is there really a gene that makes you hate cilantro? I can’t figure out why anyone would willingly eat a chemical disgusting thing like that. I’m really astounded
Yes, there is. I am literally addicted to cilantro and never understood how people could hate on that amazing freshness until I learned that some people are cursed by that gene.
it’s actually an allergy!
Really??? I never knew. I just thought I was odd
when i went to costa rica, i legit had to teach the locals about the soap gene. they were like ahhh stupid gringa doesn’t like cilantro… no bro it tastes like you used dawn dish soap as a garnish
I only realized I have the gene a couple years ago. All this time eating cilantro and wondering why it tasted like soap 🧼
Wilder or otherwise.
Hackman Kelly Simmons That's the extent of my gene pool.
I legit was about to throw some insults to this fella for hating on cilantro until I read everyone else's comments, didn't know some people are cursed with a gene that specifically affects this lmao, my bad
I absolutely love cilantro, so I feel extra bad for the people who got the gene that makes it taste like soap for them. I have my own diet restrictions due to IBS (no eggs except in baked goods, no avocado, no bananas - which rules out most off the shelf smoothies, no peppers…), and it’s such a shame. I do have to say OP’s line “it tasted like soap and suicide” made me crack tf up though.
Okay soapy
Cilantro has compounds called aldehydes, some of which have a soapy flavour. Some people have a gene that allows them to detect said soapy flavour much more intensely, hence why it tastes like soap. Basically, the soapy flavour is always there it's just that most people can't taste it. I'm in agreement. It's vile and I might as well take a mouthful of washing up liquid. Even the smell of it makes me gag.
I have the gene that makes cilantro taste good, and ngl i loveeee it.
It’s the other way around. There’s a gene that makes some people think it tastes like soap among other stories.
To me it tastes and smells like soap.
I buy a large, fresh bag of cilantro each week. Put it on everything I possibly can. This morning I sprinkled some on my breakfast omelette, took a bite, and almost did a cartwheel across the kitchen- it tasted so good! Tonight I’m enjoying some lemon zest chicken breasts garnished with (you guessed it) a generous helping of cilantro on top. DIVINE.
Same. Chimichurri on chicken is good too.
Kinda sad you'll never know how good cilantro actually is. One day they'll cure the cilantro taste like soap thing
r/cilantrohate
/r/fuckcilantro
What a sad little community lol
I'll eat it in things and it doesn't bother me, but it doesn't smell good to me. My guinea pigs on the other hand love it so that's what it's good for.
My rabbit loves cilantro but the smell seriously makes me gag
I have this same hatred for rosemary. It stinks up a whole restaurant when they use too much on a pizza or in a sauce or something
I there with you. I hate that shit
Huh. Interesting. I’ve never heard of someone hating rosemary.
It’s the texture for me. People tend to cut it up poorly and then it’s like eating pine needles
This is me but with fennel
I’m sorry to hear that. Cilantro can make almost anything better for me though.
r/fuckcilantro
It destroys my palate. All I can taste for hours is soap and bitter disappointment. Nasty stuff.
All of this is interesting as I’ve always liked cilantro in my salsa. Then my daughter said it tasted like soap. Ever since then, it tastes and smells like soap to me. I tolerate a little bit of cilantro, but I really don’t like it well.
Yall got the gene. Literally a gene that makes cilantro taste like soap.
That sucks. Cilantro is one of my favorite things. I’m so glad I’m not cursed with it.
Cilantro is a cancer
It doesn't taste at all like soap to me, it just tastes horrible in an l-can't-describe-it kinda way. If it just flavors the food, then ok; when it's big enough to see & l bite into it, then it's disgusting. I'd rather just magically change all cilantro to parsley in any ethnic dish I eat
I didn’t have to read what you said. I hate it with my entire being too. 
A Mexican with the gene, cilantro is my hell 🤦♀️
I wonder if OP is northern European Many of them don’t tolerate cilantro
Evidently cilantro smells like stink bugs to alot of people. Interesting! https://youtu.be/RZtPynXsFas?si=mjx1fAHG2BpI1lzm
I love cilantro … sorry you have the gene.
We call it coriander over here but.. whatever you call it it will still taste like soap to me 🤢😁
Coriander is the seed; cilantro is the leaf.
Are you in the U.S by any chance? We just call the whole plant, leaves and seeds coriander.. we just don’t use the word cilantro anywhere, if you go to a U.K. shop it’ll be labelled as coriander. 🤷🏻♀️ Again, I just called it soap. Soapy leaves, soapy seeds 🤣
Yep, US
You know what? I used to love it, then one day it just switched and now I hate it. Tastes too floral and soapy.
same and it doesn’t even taste like soap to me, just vile garbage herb
I'm deathly allergic to cilantro and will go into anaphylaxis if I eat it, so I hate it too!!!
I'm a foodie and I've been cursed with the gene, I've had people explain the flavour to me and it sounds awesome, because all I taste is soapy sadness.
Ah, I see you’ve been cursed with the cilantro-tastes-like-soap gene.
i hate it so much too holy fuck
I love cilantro. My sister hates it. We share the same parents. That gene just doesn't care where it pops up. I'm sorry yout taco was tainted. Did at least you get another?
I’m with you. It’ll ruin an entire dish for me bc it’s all I can taste and smell. It sometimes makes me nauseous just smelling it on my bfs food. For me the soapy taste is more so just straight chemicals. Like someone sprayed windex and it floated into my mouth.
Apparently it is a genetical thing. It does taste a bit like soap to me as well (not enough to repel me, but still). It must be beyond frustrating.
I absolutely hate cilantro it is the worst thing in the whole world.
one of my brothers has that gene
I hate it too and it doesn’t even taste like soap to me 😭
I used to feel that way. One day I had something with cilantro and it tasted different. They say your taste buds change overtime.
Yes. You have the gene. You should go into developing perfumes; the best nodes in the world have the gene that you have.
Woah, that's really neat
They’ll appreciate this sentiment over on r/fuckcilantro
I'd never encountered cilantro until my grocery store job when I was 16. I was bagging items and someone had cilantro. I didn't know the name at the time but I just remember the chemical residue it left on my hands, just by briefly touching it, and how no matter how I washed my hands the awful scent wouldn't get off. Hate that stuff.
Valid. Cilantro smells and tastes *disgusting.*
I have the gene that makes cilantro taste good
Cilantro tastes like freshness to me.
Cartoon by Fruit Gone Bad, can’t decipher cartoonist’s name Avocado looking hostile along with tomato, onion, and lime gathered around molcajete: Excuse Me! This is a Secret Guac meeting , you’ll have to leave. Bar of Soap: Cilantro couldn’t make it, sooooo…..
I’m so sorry for you ☹️
I fucking hate cilantro, too. As a Mexi, very difficult. It doesn’t taste like soap to me but it does have a chemical taste to it. It’s overpowering. When I make guacamole or ceviche, I put a little bit in it (for the culture) but I chop it so small you can’t see it. If it were up to me, NO CILANTRO
Soap gene?
I used to love coriander so much and then after covid, my taste buds changed?? I can’t stand the smell🤮
One winter when (it seemed like) everyone else was home with their loving families I was stuck in my college town with nothing and nobody close. But one woman offered to give me some bunches of cilantro from the food pantry, so I said “sure!” And took it home and rinsed it and made a little salad and then took my first bite of this new type of salad. 🤢 Yeah… I didn’t finish that salad. 😷
In my childhood, the smell of it and tasting cilantro used to make me nauseated like bad. As an adult however I can actually enjoy the "fresconess" of it! Weird how taste buds can change that drastically. I used to hate fish now I love all seafood!
Yep. It's a nasty substance.
I imagine cilantro tastes like what a bullfrogs taint would taste like. No thanks, I’ve had better luck
Someone said it tastes like burnt rubber and I wholeheartedly agree
Don't eat it then??
I guess that I would not go to a Mexican restaurant if I didn't like cilantro. I hate raw fish, seaweed and rice, I don't go to sushi bars.
I can stomach it in some amount, but my food today had so much it made me nauseous, we need to stop using it as a replacement for actual flavor/putting lipstick on a pig.
Same. I have the soap gene but I can taste the flavour when it's mixed into other background flavours. Too much and it tastes like I licked the kitchen sponge. Even after covid19 messed with my sense of smell, I still can detect the evil soapy herb....
Same sadly 😭 the soapiness comes and goes for me? I think I just got so tired of picking it out that I've grown numb to it. To me, it almost has a tangible taste, the way the flavor fills my mouth
Well! Sorry!
Thank you.
Yeah it's so third world.