I had a high school science teacher who once started a biology lecture by saying that all forms of life broke down to two things: digestion and reproduction. Put more simply, food and sex. I basically took that as a blessing to relish food and honor the sensual relationship we have with eating as one of our core purposes in life. (My teacher also elaborated on how if an organism spends most of its time engaged in one of the two activities, it’s likely doing less of the other. No further comment.) So yeah, food is emotional and elicits passionate responses. One of the more surprising examples of this, is the seemingly innocuous cilantro. People either HATE the damn herb, or are supremely unaffected by its presence. As researchers have helped uncover, how you feel about cilantro isn’t a life choice, you’re born that way. Unfortunately for legendary chef Julia Child, the science of the “soapy cilantro gene” wasn’t fully cooked yet. So without that chemical framework to help process her feelings, Julia was left to pick cilantro out of her meals and throw it on the floor.
The “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” author, known for her no-nonsense attitude, revealed once in an interview with Larry King that she hated the stuff. “It has a kind of a taste that I don’t like,” she told the television host. Apparently, Child would eat any other food if it was properly cooked, but she felt cilantro had a “dead taste.” She even went as far to say that if she were served a dish with cilantro on it at a restaurant, she would “pick it out” and “throw it on the floor.”
The only other ingredient that irked her the same way was arugula. So, don’t be surprised if you don’t find any cilantro pesto or citrusy arugula salad recipes in any of Child’s many cookbooks.
Cilantro is a very versatile herb. It’s used to top tacos, raise the flavor profile of store-bought salsa, and finish a variety of dishes from curries to stir-fries. It’s a beloved flavor for many, but it’s also one of the most controversial herbs out there. The reason being that, like Julia Child, many Americans hate the taste of cilantro. And the reason could be genetic.
You might have already heard people say that when they eat cilantro, it tastes like soap, which is not exactly a pairing you want with your meal. Scientists believe this comes down to a gene that makes certain people hypersensitive to the smell of aldehydes, an organic material in cilantro. The same aldehydes are present in soap, which makes those with the OR6A2 gene think that’s what they’re eating.
We’re not quite sure if the OR6A2 gene was the reason for Julia Child’s hatred of cilantro, or if she ever really threw it on the floor, but we do know that she did not care for it (Ina Garten isn’t a fan either, by the way). If you have a similar aversion, there’s some evidence to suggest that crushing up the leaves can help, while others claim their soapy senses went away with time. You could just throw it on the floor, but it might be a little less drastic to simply pick it off the plate.
[From Tasting Table via Yahoo]
Surely she could have served up a reaction to cilantro’s presence in her food in a manner less Tantrum a la Toddler. And I suppose I should count myself lucky that I apparently don’t have the OR6A2 gene, because cilantro never bothers me in the least (and holy mother of guac do I loooove Mexican food). I wasn’t even aware there was an issue of it tasting like soap to some people, until I was at a cast party and the composer for the show made a very explicit sign for his dish that the sauce HAS CILANTRO! But though I’m fine with cilantro, I have other food culprits. Like the smell of bananas makes me gag. Where’s that gene?! And one time my father shoved a pie we got for him after taking a bite (cherry, not boysenberry), but he loved cherries, so that was just a case of him being persnickety. Still, I think Julia would’ve approved of the vehement gesture. She may not have approved of his routine impression of her, though. Bon appetit, y’all!
I watched an episode of The French Chef where Julia Child said she hated those egg poaching machines, and then she threw it on the floor. Whenever she walked over to that side of the kitchen, you could hear her give the machine a kick.
I’m staying at a hotel right now that has cilantro scented conditioner as the hotel product. I like eating cilantro fine, I can’t imagine who thought a divisive herb would be a good universal scent. The body wash is sage scent thankfully.
Yikes, Lucy. Ick. Hygiene products or household goods scented like edible items make me faintly nauseous. I cannot even stand vanilla scented candles and body wash. The idea of any shampoo/soap being cilantro or sage scented makes me feel 🤢. I don’t actually mind the taste of cilantro nowadays. I hated it until I was put under for surgery a few years ago. I came out of surgery with a totally rewired sense of taste and don’t mind it now. It no longer tastes like soap to me. Julia was a hoot. My local PBS rebroadcasts a few of her shows regularly as fuller content. I would rather watch her and/or Jacques Pépin than a reality show on Food Network or HGTV
That picture of Julia sitting in a field of flowers rejoicing with a banana made my morning. Thank you.
Cilantro tastes horrible to me. It is crazy how it pervades so many cuisines worldwide. I forget to routinely interrogate restaurant servers about cilantro and I’ll go to a Thai restaurant, the meal arrives the way I ordered it and there it is all over the place. So my only option is to try to pick it out and it deal with the disgusting taste when inevitably I end up eating it. If food were my life, that would drive me around the bend.
Interesting to note: coriander, which I believe is cilantro seeds, tastes delightful to me. I wonder if others have the same experience.
Same!
I was at a work dinner last night and forgot to ask about the asian mushroom salad I’d pre-ordered. Sigh. Cue a lot of time spent picking out as many pieces as I could find. I’m used to it at this point.
What really frustrates me is when I request no fresh coriander (as the plant is known in the UK) on my take-away food but they forget/ignore the instruction so I try and get it all off the top before tipping it into my bowl. But if I missed any (often a bit of stalk) it’s at the bottom of my bowl and pollutes the final taste of what was otherwise a delicious dish. SIGH.
I too love the dried/powdered stuff and use it all the time in my cooking.
Me too, girl. Blegh.
Lol, compared to current celebrity chef tantrums, this seems pretty mild. I don’t mind cilantro, but I agree with her about it tasting dead, like old parsley. The flavor I can’t stand is cream of tartar. When it’s mixed in baking powder and part of a larger baked product, it’s ok. But when used as flavoring, like snickerdoodles, I can’t stand that sour and metallic taste.
Oh wait … that flavor in snickerdoodles is on purpose? Shudder
The cream of tartar in snickerdoodles is the leavening agent. It isn’t there for taste, that is just an unfortunate side effect for some people. Personally all I taste is cinnamon.
@Nancy – no there’s too much cream of tartar in the recipe to be solely for leavening. The whole point of snickerdoodles is the “distinctive tang” of the acid in cream of tartar. Otherwise, as you say, it would just be a sugar cookie with a bit of cinnamon on top.
The Mexican restaurant at which I am a regular knows not to add cilantro to my dishes. The food is otherwise terrific.
I didn’t learn about the “cilantro tastes like soap” gene until I was about 27 years old. I just thought that somehow I got my food served in a dish that hadn’t been rinsed properly every single time I ate at a Mexican food restaurant. It sounded too dumb to mention to anybody, but one day when I finally took a bite that was so bad I spit it out before I could stop myself and then I was so embarassed I almost cried, the person with me said “No that’s the cilantro gene!” And then a whole world of new cuisines opened up to me because now I could order food without cilantro!
more for me, MUAHAHA! I adore cilantro and I am completely the same Kismet about bananas, the smell makes me so nauseous I have to throw out the skin from my husband’s bananas immediately – like, out of the house – or I smell it all day, like the molecules stick to the inside of my nose…
My hates: green peppers. Just no, not in any form. Tuna from a can. I love all kinds of rice except white and steamed, especially if overcooked….shudder. Sea urchin, I’ll never understand how that became a delicacy! Other than that I’m up for pretty much anything
Same on the bananas. If I bring one to work for lunch, I have to throw the peel away in the lunchroom kitchen, not in my cubicle trash. Cannot stand the smell.
The gene thing is funny, I’m wondering what evolutionary purpose that served.
It’s like the asparagus thing – only some people’s pee has a sulphur-y asparagus smell after eating asparagus and only some people can smell it, and other people are blissfully unaware.
I like cilantro, but always serve it on the side if I’m cooking.
I hate cooked green peppers … my sister and her husband invited me for dinner recently and I passed because that was they were serving stuffed peppers LOL
If it is cooked green bell pepper, I am with you on that. It ruins any dish for me. I am fine though with cooked red, orange and yellow bell peppers. I have never been to New Orleans for that reason. I would starve, that damn Trinity is in everything! I am also allergic to shrimp – I am screwed!
I don’t care for cilantro and avoid it but I don’t associate it with a soap taste but there is just something I don’t like. However, I love coriander!
I’m the same with cilantro and any of the bitter/sulfur like vegetables. Brussel sprouts, brassicas, I can’t eat any of those. Interestingly, I am fine with hard boiled eggs which another friend avoids because those smell like sulfur to him.
I swear, if death had a taste it would taste like celantro
LOL
I absolutely love the stuff, I made cilantro pesto the other day to serve with enchiladas. It was divine.
😘
You and me both, Julia! Tant pis!