# Cilantro?



## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Apparently people who dont like cilantro have some sort of genetic deficiency:



> Several years back, a team of 23andMe scientists found that there's a "genetic component to cilantro taste perception." The findings suggested that genetic variants in the olfactory receptors may be what contributes to some people's distaste for cilantro.
> 
> 23andMe also offers customers a Cilantro Taste Aversion Trait Report that looks at two genetic variants associated with a dislike for cilantro and can tell you if you have slightly higher or lower odds of disliking the herb.
> 
> While genetics plays a role, culture and environment do, too. Some of that may explain the differences between people of different ancestries. In the 23andMe study, we found that 14-21 percent of people of East Asian, African, and Caucasian ancestry disliked cilantro while only 3-to-7 percent of those who identified as South Asian, Hispanic, or Middle Eastern disliked it.


https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/cilantro-love-hate-genetic-trait/


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Coriander (as we call it) is very frequently used in Shanghainese cooking, so I get it often at home (my wife is from Shanghai and we take turns cooking). I like it, no soap taste at all.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I apparently have the soap-taste gene. I hate the stuff.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I consider it an indispensable garnish for hot-ish curries such as Madras - the citrussy taste released by the tearing/crushing of fresh coriander leaves compliments the sauce really well, and when added I think it looks quite attractive also.


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## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

I love a wonton soup made with lots of ginger and coriander.


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Dont run across cilantro / coriander much in the Chinese food, either the restaurants or recipes I have, will have to check that out

But cant imagine Indian or Mexican food w/o it 

Wonder if people who dont like the leaves fell the same way about ground coriander seeds - which are a major spice in Indian cooking


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

A friend told me about this a few years ago. I had never heard about it. I don't love cilantro, but I don;t hate it. I always get some on my Indian food.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

I love the stuff (its proper name is coriander).


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

HenryPenfold said:


> I love the stuff (its proper name is coriander).


That's wierd.

I love cilantro, but don't really care one way or the other for coriander.


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## espressivo dolente (7 mo ago)

I really enjoy cilantro as a garnish for Mexican and Indian cuisines, my favorites. Sometimes in other dishes. I've a neighbor who eats it like lettuce. I can't do that.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

I can eat it like lettuce. My wife made a cilantro, tomato & mozzarella salad just last night. I hope I never get long covid, where you either lose your sense of taste entirely, or worse, everything tastes mouldy.


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## Shaughnessy (Dec 31, 2020)

Never saw or heard of it in Ireland - Frist (and last) exposure was in Chicago - Those of us who are actually from Ireland think that it tastes like soap - Oddly enough "Irish Spring" soap.

There are Mexican restaurants in Dublin... The chefs are Irish... Not entirely certain how "authentic" their Mexican cuisine might be... Color me skeptical on that one.

Irish-Americans probably eat more Mexican food than Mexicans do but no one from Ireland considers them to actually be Irish so make of that what you will.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Shaughnessy said:


> Not entirely certain how "authentic" their Mexican cuisine might be...


We have a Mexican restaurant here in town run by an authentic Mexican chef. His food tastes NOTHING like the burritos, tacos, chalupas and refried beans you get at the g-ringo restaurants...


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## espressivo dolente (7 mo ago)

NoCoPilot said:


> We have a Mexican restaurant here in town run by an authentic Mexican chef. His food tastes NOTHING like the burritos, tacos, chalupas and refried beans you get at the g-ringo restaurants...


We have many Mexican restaurants owned and operated by authentic Mexicans, serving-up ****** food 'cause that's what their customers know and expect! (and also, I suspect, because it's easier to prepare).


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

can only get consistently good Mexican food either in Mexico or in a state that we stole from Mexico.


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

you have to understand that Mexican food and what we gringos call " Mexican " food are two different things.

Mexico actually has regional cuisine, so you can't really talk about Mexican food like its one big monolith. 

Cilantro is something that is definitely part of Tex-Mex. Cumino and Cilantro are the spices that really make Tex-Mex what it is

not surprisingly, in the desert you dont find cilantro....or tomatoes or sour cream or any of the stuff you find in Tex Mex. 

so it doesn't surprise me at all that a Mexican restraunt in Dublin wouldn't have cilantro. They are probably serving ACTUAL Mexican food like you might find in Mexico City, which is completely different from Tex Mex


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

"What do they call a Big Mac in Paris?"


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Nate Miller said:


> you have to understand that Mexican food and what we gringos call " Mexican " food are two different things.
> 
> Mexico actually has regional cuisine, so you can't really talk about Mexican food like its one big monolith.
> 
> ...


cilantro is widely used in all regional mexican cusines and across the rest of Latam, most chimmichurri formulations contain it, for example


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

Some people are genetically predisposed to hate all vegetables. They all taste bitter to them. It's an otherwise recessive gene which told our primitive ancestors some foods are dangerous.



NoCoPilot said:


> We have a Mexican restaurant here in town run by an authentic Mexican chef. His food tastes NOTHING like the burritos, tacos, chalupas and refried beans you get at the g-ringo restaurants...


Here in the Desert Southwest, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Mexican Restaurant. Authentic or otherwise.


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## FrankE (Jan 13, 2021)

Bwv 1080 said:


> Apparently people who dont like cilantro have some sort of genetic deficiency:


I'm not particularly fond of any Apiaceae except celeriac. Coriandrum sativum doesn't taste soapy to me, it's just a culinary herb that doesn't do it for me when I've a cupboard and garden with much nicer options..
I'm mainly encountered it in carrot and coriander soup which is reduced to 10p because it's rubbish and not many people want it.
Carrots are rubbish too. I've stopped putting carrot in suppengrün and mirepoix because they go off too quickly and sour the soup.
Lamiaceae are much more interesting.

Now toothpaste, that strongly tastes of soap some days yet other days it tastes of toothpaste.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

OT: My favourite ABBA song.


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## Viajero (1 mo ago)

I can't imagine a fresh ceviche without a good dose of cilantro.
Viajero


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