# I've given up on cilantro **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 13, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571 "2008-11-13T18:59:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/1 "2008-11-13T18:59:22Z")
I tried. I really did. For years and years I accepted it, welcoming it into my diet, eating it whenever it found its way on to my plate, and deliberately not specifying “No cilantro” when I ordered in Thai and burrito places. I noticed the flavour when it was in my mouth, and tried to tell myself that the only reason I didn’t like it was because I had convinced myself that I don’t like it, so I should keep an open mind. I told myself that it was an acquired taste and if I kept eating it as if I enjoyed it, eventually I would. I told myself I liked it. I pretended to like it. It comes in some of my favourite dishes (Thai basil rice, I’m looking at you), so it was surrounded by goodness, so it was easy to deny to myself the fact that it is indeed gross. Well, I’ve had it. Yesterday I had a burrito for which I specified NO CILANTRO and it was the best damn burrito I’ve had in years, because I wasn’t constantly being distracted by that nasty taste. Here I sit, today, with a plate of yummy Thai basil rice, and I am picking the diced cilantro out of it. Fucking Cilantro. I give up on you. I acquired a taste for marmite and olives and dulse and all kinds of disgusting things so I don’t know why you are forsaking me. Cilantro, you can join cheap scotch and double-salted licorice and creamed corn and (ugh) mushy peas on the shelf of “stuff I am never going to intentionally put in my mouth ever again.” You suck. ---
**Author:** ![Headrush042](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Headrush042](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Headrush042)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/2 "2008-11-13T19:02:08Z")
Awwww. I’m the exact opposite – I must add cilantro to everything. My sandwiches, my spaghetti. If it’s got tomatos, it must have cilantro. If it doesn’t have tomatos, it’s still more than likely going to get cilantro =) ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/3 "2008-11-13T19:02:26Z")
I’m with you. No love for the cilantro at Kasa Kalhoun. Maybe it’s that they completely over-do it at restaurants, but I find it overwhelming and exceedingly unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/4 "2008-11-13T19:10:19Z")
Welcome home, **cowgirl**. We, your fellow cilantro-haters, have been considering an intervention, but you have found the strength to shed your self-torment on your own. It seems almost impossible to get across to the cilantro lovers that the stuff _doesn’t taste the same to us_. It’s not that we dislike the flavor they like, it’s that they can’t perceive the vileness that lurks in every leaf and twig of cilantro. It tastes like anti-food. You might as well try to acquire a taste for cheap dish soap and dirty sweatsocks. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/5 "2008-11-13T19:11:28Z")
> [@cowgirl](#): > > Fucking Cilantro. I give up on you. I acquired a taste for marmite and olives and dulse and all kinds of disgusting things so I don’t know why you are forsaking me. Cilantro, you can join cheap scotch and double-salted licorice and creamed corn and (ugh) mushy peas on the shelf of “stuff I am never going to intentionally put in my mouth ever again.” You suck. [You need to join the club.](http://www.ihatecilantro.com/taste.php) Google “cilantro taste genetic” for some interesting stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/6 "2008-11-13T19:21:13Z")
Maybe you should try coriander instead. ---
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/7 "2008-11-13T19:22:41Z")
Out of nowhere, innocent creamed corn takes a hit. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/8 "2008-11-13T19:35:11Z")
I’ll admit it now - I, too, hate the taste of cilantro. I tried and tried, but it’s just icky. There, I said it. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/9 "2008-11-13T19:39:12Z")
I’m a cilantro lover who used to be a hater, but i totally support you in your refusal to eat it. Try everything once, maybe twice, but then you’ve got to face facts. Plus with cilantro you can bring up the whole genetic thing if anyone calls you picky. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/10 "2008-11-13T19:43:47Z")
I’m not picky – I just don’t care for the taste of soap. My BIL, og bless him, now sets aside a small bowl of his fresh salsa for me before he adds the cilantro to the rest. ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/11 "2008-11-13T19:55:42Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > [You need to join the club.](http://www.ihatecilantro.com/taste.php) Awesome! Thanks! It tastes like [Thrills Gum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrills) to me, which is apparently supposed to taste like rosewater (and, to many people, soap). Hmm. > [@Key Lime Guy](#): > > Out of nowhere, innocent creamed corn takes a hit. Hey man, creamed corn ain’t innocent in all this. Its only redeeming feature is that it hasn’t got cilantro in it. ---
**Author:** ![Headrush042](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Headrush042](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Headrush042)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/12 "2008-11-13T19:58:28Z")
> [@cowgirl](#): > > Hey man, creamed corn ain’t innocent in all this. Its only redeeming feature is that it hasn’t got cilantro in it. Damn.. you mean I’ve been making it wrong all this time? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/13 "2008-11-13T20:00:50Z")
I hadn’t encountered cilantro until I went to work in Costa Rica. I realized very soon that whenever I ate dishes with that soapy-tasting cousin of parsley I’d get dizzy. My coworkers thought I was just being a food coward. Then one of the guides in Barrahonda told us that cilantro is “very good for the heart.” Me: wait a minute… “good for the heart” as in “lowers blood pressure”? Him: yes, exactly! Me: &()/! OK, that explains why it makes me dizzy - I have low blood pressure! :smack: No, I don’t take cilantro. Anybody who feeds me cilantro better be willing to bring me to the ER. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/14 "2008-11-13T20:45:24Z")
I’m so glad my crusade has grown by yet another voice. Back in 2000… [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=19749](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=19749) I was a lonely voice in a sea of unholy mutants who defended the vile stuff, and actually promoted its use. But slowly the righteous and true are gaining numbers and strength, and I look forward to the day when we wipe that foul, noxious, personification of evil and ass from our planet. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/15 "2008-11-13T22:18:50Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > It seems almost impossible to get across to the cilantro lovers that the stuff _doesn’t taste the same to us_. That makes perfect sense to this cilantro liker. I probably wouldn’t like it if it tasted like soap to me. But I don’t have that genetic trait, so it doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/16 "2008-11-13T22:33:09Z")
It’s pretty simple: You cilantro haters have a genetic defect. You deserve pity, not scorn. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Gnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_gnomer/32/3466_2.png) [@Miss\_Gnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Gnomer)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/17 "2008-11-13T22:36:31Z")
There could be a genetic reason I hate this stuff?!?!?!?!?! WOW!!! I’m a pretty unfussy eater … but cilantro/coriander is the one thing, above all things, that I just can’t stand! I don’t mind curries etc made with the dried seeds (but only as a small flavour amongst other flavours) … but those awful green leaves … ick ick ick! Now at least I can tell friends why I might be so adverse to it! ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/18 "2008-11-13T22:36:59Z")
Eh, don’t feel bad. I’m convinced there’s a genetic component involved- cilantro has some chemical which you (and other cilantrophobes) can taste, which the rest of us can’t taste. That would explain the “soap” flavor that you guys complain about, that we can’t taste. Me, I think cilantro is a wonderful flavoring- the only way to describe it is “fresh and green”. There’s no hint of soapiness in it for me. I seriously think that cilantro would be great in everything- even ice cream. However, I can’t stand celery. To me, celery is like someone dragging their fingernails down a chalkboard- I honestly can’t understand how anyone can eat the stuff. Most of my friends, however, say they can’t really taste celery at all. ---
**Author:** ![spockerel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@spockerel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spockerel)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/19 "2008-11-13T22:40:56Z")
I don’t feel one way or the other about cilantro (although the genetic element is fascinating!), but **Lightnin’** , I’m with you on celery. Especially raw celery. Cooked celery is tolerable. ---
**Author:** ![A.I.Wintermute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@A.I.Wintermute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.I.Wintermute)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571/20 "2008-11-13T22:47:28Z")
I’m the unpickiest eater of anyone I know, and cilantro is my one and only dealbreaker when it comes to food. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-given-up-on-cilantro/472571.md?page=2)