i always hated weird mex and india foods and recently discovered: no they are not wierdos that like soap
Cilantro tastes like soap to me. I like it. I can eat as much of soap flavored plant as I want without shitting out bubbles.
Bazed
Now do one for people with the asparagus smelling and smell producing gene.
I love Asparagus, but I definitely can smell it when I pee.
The first time I had some salsa in a restaurant I was asking if they accidentally poured dish soap into it. It was inedible for me.
I only learned later that it was cilantro and that it is genetic.
I am still feeling sorry for the remark, but it was all I could taste and didn’t know any better.
I worked at a grocery store and the produce department got a big load of fresh cilantro in. My eyes watered as I walked into the back room. I thought they had just done a shitty job of cleaning the floors.
I find it similar to parsley . It’s not soapy to me, but I’m not a hardcore fan. I guess I can enjoy though, does that count or you are looking specifically for people who sense it like soap and like it too?
I guess that puts you top-center on the coriander compass.
Yeah that’s what coriander should taste like. To anyone with the gene, it tastes wildly different to parsley.
What is the soapy gene?
A gene has been identified as a likely cause of why some people enjoy the smell and taste of coriander (also known as cilantro) while others have exactly the opposite reaction to the point of repulsion. Depending on ancestry, somewhere between 3% and 21% of the population associate it with unpleasant taste, including a combination of soap and vomit, or say that it is similar to the foul smelling odor emitted by stinkbugs. This is due to the presence of aldehyde chemicals, which are present in soap, various detergents, coriander, several species of stinkbugs and cinnamon.
I definitely have the soapy gene, but don’t mind the taste. I blame thrills soap gum, I occasionally enjoyed that as a kid. My sister also has the gene and can’t stand the taste.
I don’t mind the taste, but I’m extremely sensitive to it. If there is one bit in the dish, all of it tastes like cilantro and nothing else. Is this also part of the soap gene.
Fuck cilantro.
So it’s interesting, I have the soapy gene but have found that I do enjoy it, in modest amounts, in certain foods. It primarily just exists for me as an acquired, slightly off flavor that balances the rest - think like trying coffee for the first time versus later in life.
That said, some food trucks really just give you whole scoops of the stuff and I can exhaust that good will pretty quick when I have a bowl of hot soapy pork broth
I have one allele of the soapy gene variant at rs2741762, and I really like cilantro and coriander. But I also like any weird or different smells, it appears as if I smell everything a little more strongly, and nothing is truly disgusting for me taste-wise (texture though: can’t stand anything that has a vein-like quality). I have ADHD though, and one emergent behavior from that is pursuing the interesting/novel over the good, smells included.
I think I have similar taste to yours, with the exception of durian. I could not with that.
I used to be indifferent with cilantro but now I love cilantro because of Mexican cuisine. I feel for those who have the soap genes though.
I have a similar thing but with celery. I cannot stand celery because to me it smells extremely bad. Like, the worst thing I have ever smelled or will smell bad. If there’s even a tiny bit of celery somewhere, I can smell it. I don’t even know how celery tasted because I can’t get it close enough to my mouth to try.
I saw a video of someone teaching himself to like celery, and coerced my girlfriend to do the same - it works!
You literally just start by nibbling a bit every day and start eating more and more as you can handle it. She loves celery now, to the point where she just eats it raw as snacks.
Whether it’s worth the apparent torture is up to you. To be frank, picky eaters give me second hand embarrassment when out dining, since you can teach yourself to like basically everything. Usually it’s just people who didn’t get much variety as children.
Or don’t, because a crunchy water stick isn’t worth the effort…
I got plenty of variety as a child, but there are some foods I just can’t stand. I’m not about to force myself to eat them when I have so many other options.
But I’m glad I wouldn’t accidentally end up eating out with you. Someone who cares so much what other people are not eating makes me embarrassed for them.
You sound insufferable.
I like coriander seeds instead. While the coriander leaves (cilantro) taste like soap to me and are not nice, the seeds are fine and actually pretty delicious in certain dishes.
i like the taste of soap more tbh, but cilantro is alright.
