# Is there any empirical reason behind why a food tastes good to one person and bad to another?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-empirical-reason-behind-why-a-food-tastes-good-to-one-person-and-bad-to-another/1026590>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 12, 2026, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-empirical-reason-behind-why-a-food-tastes-good-to-one-person-and-bad-to-another/1026590 "2026-01-12T09:27:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 8

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [January 12, 2026, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-empirical-reason-behind-why-a-food-tastes-good-to-one-person-and-bad-to-another/1026590/8 "2026-01-12T12:27:22Z")

</div>

> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> People who don’t like cilantro report it as having a variety of tastes. Some say it’s soapy. Some say it’s mildewy. Some say it tastes like dirt. Some say it tastes like bugs. Some say it tastes burnt.

Data point: To me, cilantro tastes like Pine Sol floor cleaner smells. Which is way beyond timid “soapy”.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-empirical-reason-behind-why-a-food-tastes-good-to-one-person-and-bad-to-another/1026590)._