Bamboo by Kulantro – Albuquerque, New Mexico
Hawaiian pizza, black licorice, blue cheese, anchovies, candy corn, cilantro…these are among the pantheon of foods Readers Digest says everyone either loves or hates. And by “everyone,” Readers Digest includes such culinary glitterati as Julia Child who expressed her loathing for for cilantro in a 2002 interview with Larry King. The towering chef proclaimed she detested cilantro, saying it has a “dead taste” to her. Food Network personality Ina Gartner is even more blatant: “I just hate it,” she related in a Munchie’s podcast. “To me, it’s so strong and it actually tastes like soap to me, but it’s so strong it overpowers every other flavor.” Why then do some people have such a profound cattiness toward cilantro? According to a genetic survey by researchers at Cornell University, there’s a very specific gene that makes some people strongly dislike the taste of cilantro. Scientists surveyed nearly 30,000 people before singling out the offending gene as the OR6A2 gene. According to Kitchn, this gene “codes for the receptor that picks up the scent of aldehyde chemicals” — these chemicals are found in cilantro and soap. Is it any wonder so many people anecdotally say cilantro tastes like soap? If you’re…
