CURVE YOUR ENTHUSIASM (9)

By: Adrienne Crew
July 26, 2023

One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of reconsidered passions, reassessed hates, and reversed feelings everywhere in-between. Series edited by Adam McGovern.

The cilantro chronicles

As a child, I hated cilantro, the green leaves from the same plant that produces coriander seeds. It tasted like soap and smelled like a colony of dead mice. “Don’t make me eat that,” I’d plead when presented with tacos sprinkled with the herb. It seemed like that shit was everywhere (and had a flavor impossible to eliminate with gulps of water).

The plant’s versatility makes it ubiquitous in cuisines all over the world. Cooks in Southeast Asia, Latin America, India and Europe like its wide-ranging flavor profile, which has a musky aroma, punctuated by notes of butter and thyme, completed with a citrusy bite. Scholars have yet to pin down cilantro’s origins, but speculate that it came from North Africa.

Over time, my diet became more sophisticated. Yet I’d encounter that soapy taste in the most unlikely dishes: Mexican pozole, Scandinavian cookies, Chinese stir fry, Argentinian empanadas, Vietnamese stews or North Indian raita.

I’m not the only one who disliked the taste: studies show that people born with certain olfactory receptor genes are more prone to detecting the plant’s aldehydes, compounds commonly found in household cleaning agents and perfumes. Scientists estimate that about 20% of the population share this genetic mutation. Folks are so passionate about their dislike of cilantro that more than 200,000 people joined the “I Hate Cilantro” Facebook page.

But I’ve changed my tune about cilantro as I’ve matured. In my forties, I discovered that cilantro tastes citrusy, not soapy, and enhances the flavor of many dishes. I’m not sure why my body responds to the plant in a different way now. My genes haven’t altered. Perhaps a new medication has dissipated my sensitivity to aldehydes.

Regardless of the cause, I’m grateful that I can now enjoy cilantro.

One of my favorite ways to use cilantro is in soup. If you like the taste of cilantro, I leave you with a recipe for one of these favorites: “Aguadito de Pollo” (a Peruvian chicken and cilantro soup). Chopped cilantro enhances the umami of lime juice blended with chicken stock and provides the dish with a bright green color.

I’ve enjoyed Sarah Karnasiewicz’s version of the soup published in Real Simple magazine. I like to add cooked rice to my version.

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CURVE YOUR ENTHUSIASM (9)

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