Politics, religion, same-sex marriage, breast feeding, health care. Sometimes it seems that there’s nothing Americans don’t vehemently fight about. But – just like you shouldn’t bring up your hatred of Chuck Norris around your NRA-loving uncle at Thanksgiving – it’s also not a great idea to walk into a party and loudly exclaim your love of cilantro. For such a small herb, it’s a hugely contentious food and those who hate it have a pretty visceral reaction to just the passing mention of the word. There’s even a blog named “I Hate Cilantro” and a matching Facebook page with more than 11,000 “likes” and plenty of comments like “Cilantro is hell” and “Boycott Taco Bell. Now offering cilantro rice… gaggg.”
So, a couple of weeks ago I started a little research project, looking into why people don’t like it, what makes it such a divisive flavor and – because you can never have too much pop culture – which celebrities love it and which hate it, including an informal Twitter survey.
However, the fact that it’s a hot button herb doesn’t mean the subject can’t be funny. In fact I laughed out loud at Julia Child’s pithy, cilantro-loathing comments during a 2002 exchange with CNN’s Larry King:
CHILD: I don’t like cilantro.
KING: What is that?
CHILD: It’s an herb that has a kind of a taste that I don’t like.
But, what is it about cilantro that bothers people so much? Let’s start with the science. Chemists discovered that the aroma of cilantro is made up of 6 or more substances and that most of them are modified fragments of molecules called aldehydes. Those same aldehydes are found in soap, hand lotions and some insects. So, when people complain that cilantro smells like soap, they have a point. As a cilantro lover myself, it pains me to write that sentence. (In fact, before humans had citrusy smelling cleaners, people who loathed cilantro thought it smelled like bed bugs. The Greeks even named coriander after the word “Koris” which means bed bug.) It pains me even more to write that sentence.
Which begs the question: “If cilantro smells so bad, then why do people like it?” And that’s when it gets a little complicated with genetics and family history. If a person is exposed to cilantro at a young age they have a better chance of smelling and tasting its light, citrusy qualities – and falling in love with it. However, because the senses of smell and taste are so closely intertwined, if a person doesn’t have an earlier food experience to relate it to their brain can make a link between cilantro and soap. This, in turn, makes the brain think that the body is about to be poisoned, or at the very least is in danger. And that makes people highly agitated at the thought of the cilantro – hence the cilantrophobe is born.
Also, in May a new study was released which shows that genetics plays a different part in cilantro appreciation than previously thought. The study was conducted by two nutrition experts at the University of Toronto. They published their findings in Flavour, and the results found that there is a great deal of difference between ethnic groups, at least where cilantro appreciation is concerned. They studied 1,400 people between the ages of 20-29 in Canada. The volunteers were asked to fill out a 63-item checklist where whey rated food on a scale from 1 (dislike extremely) to 9 (like extremely). The volunteers could also select “never tried” or “would not try.”
The researchers found that cilantro-aversion ranged from 3% to 21% among six different groups. Volunteers with East Asian roots (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese) had the highest rate of dislike, while Caucasians came in second at 17% and volunteers of African descent came in at 14%. However, of people from Middle Eastern backgrounds only 3% voiced a dislike for cilantro, followed by those of Hispanic heritage at 4% and South Asian ancestry at 7%.
That study’s findings do seem a little strange to me because cilantro plays a decent role in some Chinese, Vietnamese and African food. But, hey. It’s science.
Speaking of science, for cilantro lovers, there is good health news about our beloved herb.
- Cilantro may ease menstrual symptoms
- It contains immune-boosting properties
- Protects against Salmonella bacteria
- Is a good source of iron and magnesium
- Prevents nausea
- Lowers bad cholesterol
- Is an anti-inflammatory which can help soothe symptoms of arthritis
Cilantro in Pop Culture:
For fun, I decided to Google “celebrities who like cilantro.” Here’s what I found.
Celebrities who are pro-cilantro: Busy Philipps, Bette Midler, Clifton Collins Jr., Bethenny Frankel, Eva Longoria, Chase Daniel, and Kevin Bacon.
And then I searched for “celebrities who hate cilantro.”
Celebrities who dislike cilantro: Jerry Springer, David Letterman and Kim Kardashian.
Then I searched out celebrity chefs who had 3 or more recipes pop up when I Googled their names “plus cilantro.”
Celebrity chefs who like/use cilantro: Jacques Pepin, Jamie Oliver, Carla Hall, Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, Giada de Laurentiis, and Mario Batali.
Finally, I found articles with chefs talking about their cilantro-aversion.
Celebrity chefs who loathe cilantro: Ina Garten, Lidia Bastianich, and Fabio Viviani.
And then I decided to take my question “to the street” as it were — to Twitter. I posed my query (“I’m doing an informal survey for a blog post. When it comes to cilantro are you yay, nay, or ‘meh?’”) to 30 well-known singers, actors, actresses, comedians and chefs, and I heard back from 6, which I actually thought was pretty decent. (And I picked up Yoko Ono as a Twitter follower, though she didn’t answer the question. Answer or not, I still think that’s pretty cool.) It’s interesting to note that, though they can often be quite vocal, I did not hear from any cilantro loathers in my Twitter survey. Make of that what you will.
(Spunky skirt-wearin’ Food Network chef Anne Burrell couldn’t have been more enthusiastic.)
(Neko Case solo artist and former member of The New Pornographers not only answered the question – she could have started a Twitter war with her comment about fennel.)
(The awesome Vickie Eng – “W” on the show Good Eats, and Judge Rita Mayson in Drop Dead Diva – was pretty enthusiastic too.)
(American film, stage, and television actress, S. Epatha Merkerson, well-known for her portrayal of Lt. Van Buren on Law and Order, totally cracked me up with her response.)
(Candace Karu is the Lifestyle Commentator & Favorite Foodie for Cabot Creamery Cooperative-World’s Best Cheddar is a wise lady, she pointed me to my favorite NYT cilantro article, sourced above.)
(The hilarious, awesome and well coiffed Michael Urie, of Ugly Betty and the upcoming series Partners, made my heart go all a-flutter when he responded.)
So, here’s what I learned over my one-and-a-half week research project. People who dislike cilantro really dislike it – with good reason. They think it’s literally trying to kill them. And people who really love the taste are pretty exuberant about it. There is a small group of people in the middle who tolerate it in small doses. And in a country that’s become so divided about so many things, maybe we should look to them to broker the peace.
