Oooh, don’t do that. Some of us find it quite tasty. I grow it just outside my kitchen door. I like adding very fresh cilantro to a variety of dishes.
There are people who don’t love cilantro? Wow, learn something new every day. And yes, it tastes like fresh air.
FWIW, Dominican food relies heavily on cilantro. You have been warned.
Mmm… Pineapple and cilantro… Think I’ll go make some right now. I’ll watch a video about the Vietnam War for the full Agent Orange effect.
As long as it’s not Good Morning, Vietnam. Not a lot of defoliation going on in that one.
Nah, National Geographic. Though maybe *The Killing Fields *would be better.
Ok… first post here guys, so apologies if I don’t do this right!
I absolutely LOVE cilantro! I can’t remember the last time I haven’t had a fresh bunch of it in the fridge to make salsa, or just use in various recipes.
Bobby Flay (one of the cooks on Food Network) always says "If you don’t like cilantro… try it AGAIN!!" (He, like me and other cilantro lovers just find it hard to believe anyone could possibly not like it!)
Anyway-- great forum and I’m glad I stumbled across it. (Even if some of its members don’t like cilantro… heh heh! ;o)
Well, except for Robin Williams chewing the scenery.
Welcome, HockeyGirl.
You do realize that “Robin Williams chewing the scenery” describes just about every one of his films?
I’m weird – sometimes cilantro tastes slightly like soap to me, but normally it doesn’t. I know I’ve read about the genetic link… but maybe I have only have the gene? 
Really, though, if I eat it all by itself and let it linger in my mouth for a good amount of time, then there’s just a little hint of soapiness. But put on tacos or made into salsa, well, then it’s an essential ingredient.
I love you. Marry me now. 
I agree (not about you being weird ). I’m always saying how I don’t like cilantro, but one time I ate a salad chockful of cilantro, and I liked it. For me, I think it depends on the other flavors that I’m eating it with.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a salsa without cilantro in it. You cilantro-haters must have a tough time of it if you want salsa on your chips.
I love cilantro. I recently made some mango/onion/habanero/cilantro salsa. Yummy.
I knew there was a reason I didn’t eat salsa.
I guess I’ll just make do with the cilantro-lime rice at Chipotle, unless someone knows what’s in the steak marinade.
Tastes like stink bugs to me. Or the way things taste after stink bugs have landed on them. I had no idea others tasted it differently. I just thought they liked that flavour and couldn’t for the life of me understand why. To me its one of the most foul tastes imaginable. I’m jealous of those who say its like fresh air , must be wonderful!
When I first experienced cilantro, (about 15 years ago) I thought the taste was weird and a little bitter, perhaps soapy. All the Mexican places around here had cilantro in their salsa, and it was not a flavor I was used to as store-bought salsa did not have it.
However, after a couple of times, I started getting used to the flavor, and now it’s perhaps my favorite herb. I simply can’t get enough of it. And, to me, it tastes like “green.” It’s just a very fresh flavor that goes extremely well with an assortment of foods, especially with spicy foods. It just seems to perk everything up and make it taste fresh. It’s no wonder it’s the world’s most widely used herb (or so I have read).
Chinese parsley(cilantro) tastes like soap to me too, but I don’t hate it. I actually don’t hate it and can stand it in moderation: never raw.
It tastes like dirty dishwater to me, as a matter of fact, a sinkful of dirty dishes reminds me of cilantro, so the association is pretty tightly linked.
I don’t think it is a far cry to believe there is some sort of genetic reason for the difference in peoples experiences. Thnk about that big long list up there. That is a huge variety of descriptions. Cilantro, with it’s perceptional weirdness might just make a few workings of our brains a we bit better. It isn’t uncommon for pregnant women to develop a more sensitive senseof smell, the theory is that it helps protect the baby better from Mama eating something bad.
Is my aversion to cilantro performing some sort of self-protection or is it an evil plan by all the psychotic cilantro lovers to thereby hoard all the cilantro for themselves? If so, the joke is on them, they can HAVE IT!
Is anyone ambivalent about cilantro? It seems to inspire intense love or hate.
There are certain dishes that IMO just can’t be served without cilantro. *Carne en su jugo, tacos de cabeza * or a good salsa de molcajete. Other than those I don’t eat it much. But it is more a question of sanitation here than taste. The street vendors who use it, don’t wash it because it becomes soggy so I avoid adding it as a condiment to my fare. At home we use it mainly in the above mentioned dishes and of course disinfect it prior to use.
Head tacos?!