It Is Your Fault

A fellow culinary adventurer, Dan, and I frequently head to the San Gabriel Valley for Chinese food. But it’s almost impossible to have an entire meal without encountering cilantro, which Dan cannot tolerate in any capacity. Even when we ask for its omission in dishes, about half of the time, it manages to appear on our plates. Dan cannot even stand to have cilantro-laced dishes near him at the table, his revulsion is so great. I understand. As a child, I thought that cilantro was the plant from where Ajax cleanser was derived. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I began to appreciate its herbaceous glory.

I suspect this has been Photoshopped
Yesterday, Harold McGee explored the biochemical explanations of why people hate Coriandrum sativum to the level that has inspired websites like bancilantro.com and Facebook groups like “I Hate Cilantro.”

Dan believes his intolerance is due to a genetic predisposition, which seems to fit with most people’s love-it-or-hate-it attitude towards cilantro, but McGee says that there isn’t a wealth of data yet that support this claim. He goes on to explain how the herb's soapy aroma could trigger a brain response that perceives it as a threat. “We react strongly and throw the offending ingredient on the floor where it belongs.”

Researcher Jay Gottfried on a cilantro high
He cites the work of Jay Gottfried, a Northwestern University smell-ologist and ex-cilantro hater. Through frequent exposure with good food, he found, “I began to like cilantro. It can still remind me of soap, but it’s not threatening anymore…”
Get excited, Dan!
So, despite the article’s headline, it is your fault, Dan. You need to expose yourself to more and more cilantro until you love it. Jeffrey Steingarten did that with all the foods he disliked to become a food writer. Initially, I couldn’t stand beer, but after repeated and multiple exposures, I developed a grudging tolerance for the sudsy stuff. To this day, I regularly ingest pints of ale and lager, stout and pilsner, hoping to my tolerance will evolve into love. So, Dan: if I continue to work on my beer issues, will you work on your cilantro issues?