# Why is cilantro so disgusting? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 24, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597 "2005-10-24T02:19:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jebba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9e8a1a/32.png) [@jebba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebba)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/1 "2005-10-24T02:19:32Z")
I mean, really it is quite foul. Why is it that most people like it and a small number of us find it to be the most pukeriffic flavor imaginable? I’ve tried googling it, wrote in to Straight Dope, wrote a letter to the Scientific American, but have never found an answer. I can’t even walk by it in the grocery store without smelling that awful smell and getting angry. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/2 "2005-10-24T02:23:39Z")
A [previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=317423&highlight=cilantro+taste) on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![jebba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9e8a1a/32.png) [@jebba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebba)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/3 "2005-10-24T02:25:06Z")
Thanks. I’ll happily delete this thread to clear up space. Can you tell me how to do it? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/4 "2005-10-24T02:27:39Z")
It will die a natural death and fall off the front page. But not before at least 8 people chime in with: another link, a half-assed theory they read on a cereal box, 2 jokes, 4 puns, a declaration of undying alliegence to cilantro, and a question about coriander. Maybe a recipe or two as well. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/5 "2005-10-24T02:39:29Z")
Let us fight ignorance a bit more before the thread dies by reposting **broomstick** ’s most educational and helpful info! > [@broomstick](#): > > Soapy Cilantro taste" (SCT) is genetically based. The ability to perceive the SCT depends on a recessive gene. Those who do not carry the gene will enjoy cilantro from the first bite. > > Those who carry one copy may or may not taste SCT, but those who “acquire a taste” for the vile plant (guess which camp I fall into) are heterozygous, meaning they have one gene that carries the trait, and one that does not. But those among the heterozygous who taste SCT do not have as intense experience as our last group. > > Those who carry two copies of the SCT gene hate cilantro, and always will. It’s not a matter of attitude or acquiring a taste - it’s that biting into a piece of cilantro tastes EXACTLY like biting into a bar of soap, and always will. Even a small amount can render a dish of food nauseating. > > There’s no treatment and no “cure” - because nothing is really wrong here. It’s like blue eyes vs. brown eyes, just normal human variation at work. > > It does mean, though, that some of us ate out less often when cilantro got treandy for a bit awhile back. From the above-linked thread. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/6 "2005-10-24T02:40:54Z")
\ When I saw the Google ad that this thread brought up, saying “Embarrasing Vaginal Odor,” I said to myself, “Self, this thread belongs in IMHO.” I selflessly moved it for you. \ ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/7 "2005-10-24T02:44:00Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > \ > > When I saw the Google ad that this thread brought up, saying “Embarrasing Vaginal Odor,” I said to myself, “Self, this thread belongs in IMHO.” > > I selflessly moved it for you. > > \ OK, now those ads are starting to weird me out. They’re just trying to be disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/8 "2005-10-24T02:46:35Z")
My biggest problem with cilantro is that so many cooks who use it operate under the “if a little is good, a lot must be better” rule. I can only take it in small doses. Thanks, **rico**. Let me root around and see if I can’t find a question for ya. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/9 "2005-10-24T02:56:57Z")
Chalk up 1 undying allegiance. Witness my multiple past threads about my Chipotle addiction. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/10 "2005-10-24T04:20:16Z")
Here’s my issue. I know the soap-gene thing. Cilantro is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted that is routinely used in actual food, but it doesn’t taste like soap. It tastes like pure evil, which soap does not resemble (as far as I’m aware). ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/11 "2005-10-24T07:24:19Z")
> [@Rico](#): > > \ > > When I saw the Google ad that this thread brought up, saying “Embarrasing Vaginal Odor,” I said to myself, “Self, this thread belongs in IMHO.” > > I selflessly moved it for you. > > \ Except there’s a factual answer that was given. Sounds like GQ material to me… ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/12 "2005-10-24T08:06:00Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Let us fight ignorance a bit more before the thread dies by reposting **broomstick** ’s most educational and helpful info! > > From the above-linked thread. **QtM** , you are officially my hero. (for a day or so anyway) I thought I was crazy. I hate it, yes, soap, or worse, yes. No one in my family believed me. I was the only one that tasted it. (sigh) I feel so vindicated. I’m calling my ex husband in the morning! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/13 "2005-10-24T08:10:09Z")
Some years ago, in an attempt to avoid using pesticides, I took to trapping the stinkbugs that were infesting my rhubarb, rather than spraying them; for some not entirely rational reason, I decided that drowning them in the water butt was a fitting end for such loathsome beasts. They do not drown easily, but during the process, they would always release an oily slick of… welll… _stink_. The odour was pretty much exactly that of coriander/cilantro. To this day, I have trouble eating the stuff without thinking of clingy, leggy brown stinkbugs. ---
**Author:** ![EvilGhandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@EvilGhandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilGhandi)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/14 "2005-10-24T08:49:47Z")
**Mangetout** Thank you. I have always wondered what that _smell_ was that cilantro exudes was. Stink bugs! Can the lovers of cilantro smell them? Or do stink bugs smell different to them? I am not being snide, Do stink bugs _stink_ for everone? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/15 "2005-10-24T11:24:48Z")
Dunno, but googling _Stink Bug_ and _Coriander_ does seem to indicate that I’m not the only one to have made the association, indeed, it actually appears to have been named after them (Coriander from Greek _Koros_=‘bug’). ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/16 "2005-10-24T11:39:52Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > My biggest problem with cilantro is that so many cooks who use it operate under the “if a little is good, a lot must be better” rule. I can only take it in small doses. > > Thanks, **rico**. Let me root around and see if I can’t find a question for ya. 🙂 I have always liked it in restaurant meals and took me ages, using it myself, to discover that most recipes recommend about 3 or 4 times too much for my tastes. I think it works much better, as you say, in small doses. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/17 "2005-10-24T15:48:11Z")
OTOH, whenever my school has a "taco bar for the teachers, I always load on a ton of cilantro. I’m not the only one who does it, either. I love the stuff. 😃 ---
**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:** [October 24, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/18 "2005-10-24T19:49:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Those who carry one copy may or may not taste SCT, but those who “acquire a taste” for the vile plant (guess which camp I fall into) are heterozygous, meaning they have one gene that carries the trait, and one that does not. But those among the heterozygous who taste SCT do not have as intense experience as our last group. Ah, there’s the missing piece I was confused on! Cilantro does taste kind of soapy to me, and straight-up, it would be quite unpalatable. But as an incidental ingredient, I find that it can complement other flavors, and I quite like some foods with cilantro in them. I guess I must be a heterozygot. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/19 "2005-10-24T21:02:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Ah, there’s the missing piece I was confused on! Cilantro does taste kind of soapy to me, and straight-up, it would be quite unpalatable. But as an incidental ingredient, I find that it can complement other flavors, and I quite like some foods with cilantro in them. I guess I must be a heterozygot. Same for me. The first time I can recall having cilantro was as a pizza topping at a fusion restaurant. It wasn’t finely chopped or anything – whole cilantro leaves were piled on. I honestly thought that someone in the kitchen had just washed their hands, rinsed poorly, and had drizzled soapy water onto my pizza. Since then, I’ve learned to appreciate cilantro – in proper proportion – in Mexican and Vietnamese cuisine, and as a beer infusion. Regarding the smell … I find it pleasant \. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597/20 "2005-10-24T21:13:36Z")
And I think it actually cleared some things up for me. My dad is heterozygotic, I’m sure. He doesn’t much like it but he doesn’t mind some in it. My mom, on the other hand, LOVES cilantro. I think it’s her favourite herb. How could I be homozygotic? Then I remembered… MY MOM LIKES SOAP GUM TOO. I think she just likes the taste of soap. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-cilantro-so-disgusting/327597.md?page=2)