# Do any other foods have the "cilantro" effect? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635 "2016-06-06T02:47:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/41 "2016-06-07T20:43:29Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Lavender. Tastes like perfume to me. Tastes like perfume to me, too, as does jasmine… but I _like_ those as flavors. I completely understand if someone else doesn’t, but then, I’m pretty easy going about food likes and dislikes in other people. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/42 "2016-06-07T21:34:16Z")
Wow I thought I was the only one with the tomato problem, I could have written that post almost verbatim. I seem to like tomatoes in all their forms spaghetti sauce, ketchup, etc. but for some reason not their actual natural form. The thing is I want to like them, but every time I’ve tried to make myself eat any tiny bite of a real tomato I start gagging and can’t even swallow it or I’ll throw up. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/43 "2016-06-07T22:17:44Z")
My spouse is another one who can’t tolerate raw tomatoes but is just fine with cooked ones. Me, on the other hand, can’t tolerate them in any form. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/44 "2016-06-07T23:29:42Z")
The salsa at Mexican restaurants must be hell for cilantro tasters/tomato haters. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/45 "2016-06-07T23:55:00Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The salsa at Mexican restaurants must be hell for cilantro tasters/tomato haters. As far as Cilantro I literally learned to cook originally because Mexican food was my favorite, then pretty much overnight around '88 every dish in every Mexican place was contaminated with that shit. I haven’t been to a Mexican restaurant since 90 or so, there is nothing I can eat. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/46 "2016-06-08T00:05:23Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > As far as Cilantro I literally learned to cook originally because Mexican food was my favorite, then pretty much overnight around '88 every dish in every Mexican place was contaminated with that shit. I haven’t been to a Mexican restaurant since 90 or so, there is nothing I can eat. I rest my case. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/47 "2016-06-08T01:47:00Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The salsa at Mexican restaurants must be hell for cilantro tasters/tomato haters. I just don’t eat it. Actually, due to my tomato allergy I pretty much don’t eat at Mexican restaurants at all. Also due to it, I have never actually eaten salsa ever. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/48 "2016-06-08T02:27:40Z")
I also find that cilantro tastes soapy but still like it (in moderation), but that’s in spite of the soapy component of the flavor, not because of it. I can still taste the other components of flavor, that are presumably the only part most folks taste, and I like them well enough that I put up with the soapy part. And raspberries don’t taste particularly acidic to me, but I do detect a certain… harshness, I guess? in them. It’s not a dealbreaker, but there are definitely other berries I prefer for that reason. Also in fresh peaches, though I’m not sure if it’s the same harshness, or two different but related sensations. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/49 "2016-06-09T21:33:23Z")
I like cilantro and it doesn’t taste soapy to me at all, but, like many other people, i find arugula to be nothing but bitter, and so refuse to eat anything with arugula in or on it. Brussel sprouts also taste bitter to me, but the one thing I came here to mention that apparently nobody has ever heard of is basil. There is at least one variety of basil that tastes to me like mold. Fortunately not sweet basil or its many cultivars, which I love. I suspect it’s Thai basil that has that particular taste for me, but I haven’t pinned it down for certain just yet. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/50 "2016-06-10T07:13:45Z")
A slightly different example might be sauvignon blanc wine. Hugely popular to some, but a significant number of people find it revolting, describing it as weak, thin and grassy. Leaving aside French versions like Sancerre wines, vast lakes of it are pumping out of NZ and being consumed happily. Now one narrative about this is that it _is_ inherently terrible and only popular among the bootless and unhorsed with no taste in wine. Certainly there are wine opinion makers who hate the stuff and can’t understand why it exists. But the reactions seem to me to be too extreme for it just to be explained as a popular Emperor’s New Clothes thing. It is so popular and yet so uncool with most opinion makers that it seems unlikely that the people who like it are just palateless rubes. So the best explanation would appear to be that this is a genetic taste thing like the other examples above. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/51 "2016-06-11T02:33:55Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > I cannot taste avocados, my wife insists they have a flavor and devours them by the basket (Apparently I make a killer guacamole, just tastes like spices and paste to me). I’ve never thought of that angle. I have the same issue. Everyone claims that guacamole is so yummy, but to me, it’s a bland thing that just carries spices. In context of this thread, it seems more reasonable. I’m also on board with the no-raw-tomato crowd. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/53 "2016-06-11T16:41:43Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I don’t know if it’s a genetic thing or not, but I find raspberries teeth-meltingly acidic. Even the ripest juiciest ones that my wife swears are as sweet as anything make me feel as if my tooth enamel is being liquefied. I agree with this, and the raw tomatoes thing. My acidic stomach trying to help itself out? I tried lavender-and-something ice cream once, it felt like I was licking body wash. Eurgh. Avocadoes are weird – unless they are perfectly ripe, they have zero flavor and revolting, inedible texture. But I love a perfectly ripe avocado or guacamole. Overripe avos go back to inedible pretty quickly (again both taste and texture. I love asparagus even though the smell happens. I want to know: is there an anti-supertaster? I prefer strongly-flavored foods, except for salty and sweet. I really like bitter, sour and umami flavors, as well as spicy heat (though my stomach disagrees with me there!). I don’t have a strong sense of smell (probably chronically stuffy nose), so I wonder if that’s the whole story, or if I just have insensitive taste-buds as well. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/54 "2016-06-11T16:44:51Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > I want to know: is there an anti-supertaster? I prefer strongly-flavored foods, except for salty and sweet. I really like bitter, sour and umami flavors, as well as spicy heat (though my stomach disagrees with me there!). I don’t have a strong sense of smell (probably chronically stuffy nose), so I wonder if that’s the whole story, or if I just have insensitive taste-buds as well. We’re similar. Though I do like salty as well. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/55 "2016-06-11T19:16:40Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > I want to know: is there an anti-supertaster? A Challenged Taster. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/56 "2016-06-11T20:32:23Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > We’re similar. Though I do like salty as well. Salty and sweet aren’t bad for me, just my tolerance is lower. I guess I taste them sooner or something. I’ll cook liberally with salt, but never/very rarely feel the need to add it to already-cooked dishes. Glad to know I am not the only one! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/57 "2016-06-11T21:40:29Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > Salty and sweet aren’t bad for me, just my tolerance is lower. I guess I taste them sooner or something. I’ll cook liberally with salt, but never/very rarely feel the need to add it to already-cooked dishes. > > Glad to know I am not the only one! Sweet gets to me fairly quickly. But I have a frighteningly high tolerance for salt. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/58 "2016-06-11T23:17:34Z")
I hate sweet potatoes. A bite of them would truly make me want to vomit back when I was a young’un. Now, I could choke down a bite without wretching, but it would take some effort. I attribute this to my taste buds getting weaker as I have aged. The funny thing is that I find sweet potatoes pretty good raw. Raw, they taste like milky sweet raw carrots. Carrots also change flavor when cooked, and not for the better. Same with celery. What reactions does the heat cause to produce such distasteful flavors? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/59 "2016-06-12T00:29:10Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > What reactions does the heat cause to produce such distasteful flavors? I believe that cooking changes starches into sugars. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/60 "2016-06-12T01:58:53Z")
Raw carrots have a sweetness that is awesome, cooked don’t do much for me, though they make stews better. Celery isn’t too bad either, but will never remember to buy it. The cilantro thing I never quite got. Maybe it doesn’t taste soapy to me, but it definitely has a hair shirt element to it. Sort of a taste-bud numbing deal. It’s not objectionable in small amounts, tho I don’t know why it took off like it did. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635/61 "2016-06-12T02:05:22Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > Raw carrots have a sweetness that is awesome, I think that is the starch sugar thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-any-other-foods-have-the-cilantro-effect/756635.md?page=4)