BajaNomad - Cilantrophobia

Cilantrophobia

BMG - 4-18-2010 at 12:21 PM

Interesting article in the NY Times about cilantro. I think we all know people who either love or hate cilantro.

Quote:

The authoritative Oxford Companion to Food notes that the word “coriander” is said to derive from the Greek word for bedbug, that cilantro aroma “has been compared with the smell of bug-infested bedclothes” and that “Europeans often have difficulty in overcoming their initial aversion to this smell.”

[Edited on 4-18-2010 by BMG]

Bob and Susan - 4-18-2010 at 12:54 PM

"Cilantrophobia" i hope i don't get "that"

elizabeth - 4-18-2010 at 12:59 PM

More from that NY Times article...it's a long one, but an interesting read...especially a part that talks about how the brain deals with smell and taste.

"Modern cilantrophobes tend to describe the offending flavor as soapy rather than buggy. I don’t hate cilantro, but it does sometimes remind me of hand lotion. Each of these associations turns out to make good chemical sense.

Flavor chemists have found that cilantro aroma is created by a half-dozen or so substances, and most of these are modified fragments of fat molecules called aldehydes. The same or similar aldehydes are also found in soaps and lotions and the bug family of insects."

bajajudy - 4-18-2010 at 02:59 PM

Until I quit smoking 20 years ago, I could not stand the way it tasted. Thought that it tasted like soap.
Now I cant get enough of the stuff.
It is said to be good to fight off salmonella but I think that the quantities required are huge.

DianaT - 4-18-2010 at 03:03 PM

I love cilantro, but now I am going to be looking for if it smells like something else.....

Eat Your Spinach!

Bajahowodd - 4-18-2010 at 03:41 PM

I really had no idea of the level of disaffection that existed for cilantro. Perhaps it has something to do with living mostly in Southern California for the past 30 years, and patronizing a panoply of Mexican restaurants. Now. I can really and wholeheartedly get behind the anti-lima bean movement! :lol:

BMG - 4-18-2010 at 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by morgaine7
Where's the "I can take it or leave it" option? :?:

Kate

Kate - I figured 'like' 'dislike' would cover that. You must lean at least a little bit towards 'take it' or 'leave it'.

So far, I'm a bit surprised by the poll.

Will have to try cilantro on my lima beans tonight. Sounds delicious.

Nan&D - 4-18-2010 at 05:52 PM

We are divided on this important issue, so cilantro gets chopped up and left as a self-serve side-dish. Here's a painting called "Guacamole sans Cilantro" or "Painting Makes Me Hungry".

IMG_1187.JPG - 48kB

I am a cilantro hater

jeans - 4-18-2010 at 06:38 PM

I admit it.

In the early 70's when I first started eating Mexican food, spending time in Ensenada where my in-laws had a house, I never remember coming across that horrible taste. I wasn't until I was living in west Texas in the mid 80's when I started asking myself, "What is that horrible taste?What did they put in this stuff? (About the time restaurants came up with the dish "Fajitas').

Now I scrutinize the menu of dishes that may contain cilantro (found in SE Asian food as well). I will turn back meals that include it, since it was not listed on the menu. :fire:

Servers can be clueless about what is in the food they serve, so I will often tell them that I am allergic so they will actually ask the cook instead of guessing.

And who made up the rule that chopped onion has to be mixed with cilantro?

longlegsinlapaz - 4-18-2010 at 07:33 PM

Thank you for 'fessing up Jeans....I KNEW without a doubt that BMG was going to accuse me of somehow voting twice!! :lol:

It's really vile stuff....huh? :yes:

TheColoradoDude - 4-18-2010 at 09:10 PM

Interesting thread! I thought I was the only person in the world that disliked cilantro. It is unavoidable in most if not all salsas, and other mexican dishes. I can deal with it in small doses but I try to avoid it whenever possible. To me it has a very pungeant mint type taste. I get a similar taste when I bite into rye bread. Those are the only two things that are commonly loved by most but very much disliked by me.

irenemm - 4-19-2010 at 12:26 AM

cilantro dressing nothing better on a salad except more cilantro.
It is our best selling salad dressing at the Posada Don Diego. I make it fresh couple times a week. my favorite cilantro tacos. just cilantro. lime and some avocado. We will make them for you if you want. But they are not on the menu. YET
But you can ask for them.

shari - 4-19-2010 at 06:56 AM

Man oh man...ya just never know what topics spring up on Nomads...LOVE IT! and LOVE cilantro. Like nancy's yummy painting...some foods just HAVE to include cilantro. Ceviche without it is downright unacceptable. We have been known to take a couple hours in our search for cilantro in all the little tiendas in town and people's gardens....now I dont start making ceviche unless the key ingredient is on hand.

Mexitron - 4-19-2010 at 07:04 AM

Love the stuff! Never thought the taste was soapy though..a little metallic in large quantities.

Pompano - 4-19-2010 at 07:10 AM

Cilantro..it reminds me of lichen..the green moss on some Up North rocks I used to eat as a child.

The Mulege Cilantro-Haters Club meets every Saturday at Dany's Carnitas.

Natalie Ann - 4-19-2010 at 07:18 AM

This thread was inspiring to me. Last evening I went out to harvest from my large cilantro patch, then made cilantro pesto for my dinnertime breakfast burrito. Delicious!

nena

bajajudy - 4-19-2010 at 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by irenemm
cilantro dressing nothing better on a salad except more cilantro.
It is our best selling salad dressing at the Posada Don Diego.

Any chance of your sharing that recipe!?!?!?!

durrelllrobert - 4-19-2010 at 08:59 AM

the cilantro leaves from the immature coriander plant are delicous as is the ground coriander, but the seeds get stuck in my teeth. :lol:

BMG - 4-19-2010 at 09:13 AM

I definitely fall into the 'love it' category but Linguine is more in the 'like it' category (barely.) My mother used to like just about everything, except cilantro. Then, a couple of years ago, we had a friend stay at the house on his bike ride from Seattle to Tierra del Fuego and he told us that cilantro tasted like soap to him. That was the first time I had ever heard that. Since then I heard it several times.

DianaT - 4-19-2010 at 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by bajajudy

Quote:

Originally posted by irenemm
cilantro dressing nothing better on a salad except more cilantro.
It is our best selling salad dressing at the Posada Don Diego.

Any chance of your sharing that recipe!?!?!?!

Her cilantro dressing is VERY good---so maybe, just maybe.... :biggrin:

capt. mike - 4-19-2010 at 12:50 PM

is cilantro diff from mexican parsley?
what is italian parsley?

Mulegena - 4-19-2010 at 01:07 PM

Cilantro is one of the finest herbs on God's Green Earth and one of the many reasons I love all things Mexican, including the food of course.

However, don't use it in place of parsley in an Italian sauce.
It don't jive and completely blew out my handmade lasagna!

Bajahowodd - 4-19-2010 at 01:11 PM

"So far, I'm a bit surprised by the poll."

You were expecting more people that don't like it? Consider your audience here. Try posting a similar poll on an affinity web site in Indianapolis or Cleveland. Bet the results would be vastly different.

irenemm - 4-19-2010 at 02:13 PM

Before there were many restaurants around I would share my recipes but any more not even the kitchen people get them Sorry. We have had the same cook for almost 25 years and our morning cook retired from here after 30 years. I never gave them the recipes. I would give out my recipes and this lady told me her and her husband and some other people had just bought the Old Pier and were going to open it up .OK no more recipes they go with the business.
I would teach ladies to make my flan. No more.
Sorry all my recipes belong to the business. First guy here with the right amount of money get all the recipes too.
Come by and have a salad and see if you like it. Just maybe i will give you most of it. We will see.
Irene
Posada Don Diego
Restaurant-RV Park-Motel
Vicente Guerrero, Baja

Oh Diane Thanks Give you some to take home OK Irene

BMG - 4-19-2010 at 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd

Try posting a similar poll on an affinity web site in Indianapolis or Cleveland.

I don't post on any Indianapolis or Cleveland websites. Please post a poll and share the results with us.

Timo1 - 4-19-2010 at 04:54 PM

The first time Barb brought home celantro about 20 years ago....She put the whole works...I'm talking a big handfull/bunch in some soup she made
Needless to say it tasted like she took 2 pairs of my soiled work socks and used them to make soup
Today I love the stuff

Santiago - 4-19-2010 at 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jeans
And who made up the rule that chopped onion has to be mixed with cilantro?

Back in genetics lab we learned that aversion to Coriander is sex-linked recessive, being on the X chromosome. Men inherit from their moms, women from both. If you're female and hate it and your mom hates the stuff but your dad loves it, have a long talk with your mom.....
By the way LL and jeans, it's highly correlated with a certain sort of brain dysfunction normally expressed by unclear thinking. And since females get two of these......... :cool:

jeans - 4-20-2010 at 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Santiago
Back in genetics lab we...

That explains a lot of things

David K - 4-20-2010 at 07:07 PM

LOVE CILANTRO... pile it on! Baja Angel loves it, too... As noted, it is great in Asian dishes as well, and on BBQ Chicken Pizza!

JESSE - 4-20-2010 at 07:45 PM

You guys should try cilantro pesto, we go tru buckets of that stuff in the restaurant. People order it to go.

bajabass - 4-20-2010 at 07:49 PM

I hope to be there soon Jesse, I'll have to give it a try!

David K - 4-20-2010 at 07:53 PM

Sound great Jesse!!!

So far almost 95% of Nomads love or like cilantro! I wonder why it only is disliked by such a small per-centage?

It might be like the same kind of dislike that I have for mustard...? I focus on that taste whenever it is on something, as it overpowers the rest of the flavors to me...??? If it is mixed in with other stuff to a small degree, like patato salad or deviled eggs, I can take it... :biggrin:

Paula - 4-20-2010 at 08:32 PM

David K!!

Something we can agree on :lol:

durrelllrobert - 4-21-2010 at 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pompano
.... on some Up North rocks I used to eat as a child.

and you probably have no teeth left to enjoy cilantro anyway :lol:

DENNIS - 4-21-2010 at 10:37 AM

Cilantro....A little bit goes a long way. I like it, but too much is overpowering.

Like Chorizo....I like it, but in my mind, I can taste it for years to come. I avoid it.

desertcpl - 4-21-2010 at 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JESSE
You guys should try cilantro pesto, we go tru buckets of that stuff in the restaurant. People order it to go.

If we could ask,, what is your recipe for cilantro pesto

David K - 4-21-2010 at 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Paula
David K!!

Something we can agree on :lol:

Should we start a Nomad mustard haters club? :lol:

bajadock - 4-21-2010 at 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd

Try posting a similar poll on an affinity web site in Indianapolis or Cleveland.

Yikes, I escaped both of those cities in a previous life. The Mistake on the Lake and Naptown have corn and anything deep-fried in common as their gourmet offerings. Haven't been back to either since 1978.

Anyone know any Mexicans that dislike cilantro?

durrelllrobert - 4-22-2010 at 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BMG

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajahowodd

Try posting a similar poll on an affinity web site in Indianapolis or Cleveland.

I don't post on any Indianapolis or Cleveland websites. Please post a poll and share the results with us.

I think they did a pole in Cleveland for collard greens and got a similar result :lol: