Have you been able to convert any of your cilantro-hating friends to the church of cilantro? I find it’s hard to introduce to those who have an aversion because I usu. prepare it raw and/or as a garnish and in that way its flavor is in full force. Any suggestions?

As a child, teen and young adult I found cilantro quite unpleasant, but now in my 50s it has lost whatever made it taste bad. I’m not a lover yet, but use the stuff without hesitation or remorse.

I can’t say I’ve made any conversions yet. I do think it’s interesting that when I don’t mention that I’m using cilantro (which I also always use raw, right before serving, or in marinades) no one spits anything out or complains. Often, I’ll serve the cilantro on the side, and the haters are usually grateful. I’ve heard many people say that their taste for the herb has changed with age -- from hater to lover and vice versa.

I like cilantro because I think it has a fresh taste. It makes everything taste fresh. It has a very distinctive smell as well, and I like it. Sometimes I rub it on my neck and behind my ears if I don’t have any cologne handy because I always have cilantro handy.

I like Sona Pai too. Her writing is fresh. She has a very distinctive smell as well, and I like it. Kudos to Sona! Love you Sweetheart!

If at first u dont like cilantro, try try again. Cindy(my wife) hated Cilantro when we 1st met, but a decade of mexican/thai/vietnamese food i made her join in every chance i got has turned her into an addict. She likes it mor than me now, if that’s possible :P

I have tried. I promise, I really have. It´s just that it does taste like soap. I expect little bubbles to come out of my mouth when I eat it. Too bad.

I love it; my husband hates it. I grew up eating lots of Thai food; he grew up on the edges of PA Dutch country in Pennsylvania (salt, pepper, and ketchup are basically the only spices there).

I didn’t even realize he was a cilantro hater till he couldn’t stand a Thai squid dish when we were out with family a few years ago. He spit it out and said it tasted horrible. It took us a bit to dig through the dish and discover that it was the cilatro that was setting him off. It tastes soapy to him, and the fact that he has such an aversion to it is interesting, because he doesn’t have much of a sense of smell or, therefore, much of a sense of taste, so it’s obviously something very strong to him. He can’t even stand to be around me when I’ve been eating raw cilantro; the smell of it on my breath gets him. I highly doubt I’ll ever be able to convert him, but like Sona, I have discovered that he does not have the same aversion to coriander.

About two years ago, my mom mysteriously mostly lost her sense of smell, and along with it, her sense of taste. Interestingly, the few things she still can taste: mint, citrus in nearly all forms, and cilantro. Fortunately, she likes cilantro (maybe part of my genetic predisposition towards it!). Thank you for an interesting article.

I’ve slowly grown to find it OK in the context of Thai or Indian foods, though I’d never chew on a sprig by itself. I did find it soapy when I was younger, but I guess my palate has changed over the years. Everything in context, I say.

My younger sister still has a violent aversion to it.

Im on the hardcore hate side of the cilantro debate.. even though i consider myself a bit of a foodie...and will eat an enjoy the most bizarre of food, cilantro turns my stomach.. the smell, the flavor, everything about it... i wanted to like it..i try it again from time to time to see if my pallet has ‘evolved’ but that particular herb just disgusts me.. moreso every time im exposed to it.. at least im quite an accomplished cook and quite capable of cooking most anything much better then the local restaurants... unfortunately we have a huge illegal population locally whose wonderful cooking skills im unable to enjoy due to their liberal use of this horrible substance..

I don’t like cilantro. It tastes like soap to me. Everyone has their own tastes.

Your discussion of the etymology is a bit narrow: in much of the English speaking world (eg, UK, Australia, NZ), the leaves are called “Coriander” and the seeds “Coriander seeds”. The term “Cilantro” is totally unfamiliar.

In the US it is called Cilantro.

Its funny cos I have an yeeaaghh reaction to parsely. As a grnish or hidden somewhere in a dip is okay.

You are wrong that “Even people who hate cilantro don’t seem to have a problem with coriander.” I find them equally vile and disgusting.

I would LIKE to like cilantro. I also consider myself kind of a foodie. I’ve eaten natto, and durian... but I really cannot get over cilantro. I find it sticks out among other flavors like a disgusting sore thumb. I don’t always pick it out, but I don’t ever enjoy it.

As a kid i didn’t like eating some food, they were mostly bitter vegatables, and I didn’t know why people ate them. But as an adult I can eat every type of vegatable now. Except cilantro. It is not a choice. It tastes so bad, I am immediately repelled off. My appetite goes off. I am still not sure whether its the taste or smell. I cant explain it any other way, but CANT STAND IT. I prefer not to eat mexican food only because of cilantro, unless I know which sides they put cilantro in. If they are putting it into lots of stuff that I basically come down to eating rice and meat, then I am never going there again.

I hate HATE cilantro. It’s so bad that just looking at the stuff makes my stomach flip. I avoid eating Mexican food because the restaurants seem to put it in everything. I’m glad that I’m not alone, it seemed like everybody I met thought I was from Mars with my reaction to the vile ditch weed.

That’s easy! Cilantro tastes like turpentine. And I love it. The first time I ate it, I spit it out - it was such a shocking flavor when I expected something more lettuce-like. I guess I acquired the taste, though, because I put it on everything now.

“vile ditch weed” - - hilarious! :)

The problem is that it’s not a strong enough statement merely to say that cilantro tastes like soap.

Imagine what it would be like if dishwashing detergent were not only used to wash dishes, but was also used to flavor food.

Imagine that many people around you and on the internet love the taste of dishwashing detergent, and can’t possibly understand that it isn’t the most delicious condiment on the planet, and that they are confused (or even upset) that you don’t want to put it in your mouth.

Imagine that there are entire cuisines that revolve around putting dishwashing detergent in food.

Then, perhaps you might just barely begin to understand how some of feel.

my understanding is that it’s not just a dislike or any aversion. it’s a genetic thing that causes some of us to feel that it tastes like dishwashing detergent. none of us say “we just don’t like it”. it tastes the same to all of us who can’t eat it. i wish it was simpler and i wish i liked it, but i just don’t. if you give me a spoonful of salsa w/one bit of stem in it, all i can taste is cilantro...and it’s very unpleasant.

Here’s a wild theory: maybe there is something missing or something extra in the saliva of people who dislike it, maybe it is just a chemical reaction, which maybe changes with whatever is in the saliva-it could even be a bacteria, perhaps, but the memory of that terrible taste stays with a person so they don’t want to try it again. Maybe it is even certain body types that react this way?

I am a hater. To me it so dominates the dish, it is the only thing I taste. It took me a while to actually identify what that truly terrible (to me) taste was. I really have no other food aversions except for fat or gristle in meats and I cannot wash a skillet that was used to fry hamburger, the smell nauseates me. I love basil!