Cilantro - Love it or Hate it?

Question

I'm curious about the upsurge of using cilatro as an ingredient or garnish. Over the past 10 -12 years, it's become the new parsley, with all the celebrity chefs as well as "everyday" restaurant chefs using it in abundance; although, some of them are beginning to acknowledge that there are those who don't actually worship it as do others. 

Personally, I cannot abide it - the taste or even moreso, the aroma. Am I that much in the minority?

Answer

I hate it. I think we are missing an enzyme so it tastes gross. I've heard that at least, might not be true.

Answer

You are not in the minority at all. There is even a site I think it's call Ihatecilantro.com or something like that.
I cannot get cilantro in my little hick town and a lot of recipes called for it. I didn't even know what it was.
My darling daughter sent me up some seeds and I grew my own.
After they got big enough, I tasted a leaf. OMG Sunlight dishwashing soap. It took hours and hours and a mickey of rye to get the awful taste out of my mouth.
I committed herbacide on that devil's weed.

Edit. Just checked on that site http://www.ihatecilantro.com/

Answer

I love it. But I know that many people can't abide it. Too bad. Lots of Asian and Latin American dishes would taste quite inauthentic without it.

Answer

Have replaced every parsley recipe with cilantro, love it. When plating soups and pastas that have cilantro, use uncooked as base and the cooked on top, cannot get enough.

Answer

Yes, you are in the minority. A small percent of the population perceives a soapy taste with cilantro but they tend to be vocal but obviously it is much less then 25% so you are in the minority.

Answer

i do know some of the people to whom it tastes funny but i feel bad for them. :) it is my FAVORITE. that and ginger. i mean i could probably just eat a handful of it. and i love the smell. ina garten (whose one of my favorites because her recipes actually turn out great for me) hates it though. and says so unabashedly. so her recipes never have it.

Answer

I love it...but I love parsley too. I have not switched out cilantro for parsley in all of my recipes, either. Parsley <I believe> packs a better nutritional punch than cilantro which is important to me and I use it almost like a lettuce now in my salads, love it dipped in hummus. Cilantro is more of garnish for certain dishes, but I use it abundantly in those dishes because I do love the flavor.
http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=100

Answer

Is there anyone else out there that once hated it but grew accustomed to it and now enjoys it? That's my story. First ate it in food a Thai nurse brought into the hospital where I worked, and had to be polite but was miserable. Same thing when a friend cooked a huge batch of oysters an hour out of the water and grabbed cilantro instead of Italian parsley to go with them. But that was years ago, and just like coconut, I have come to love it.

Answer

I'm like Googs: hated it years ago. 
I remember my first exposure to it. We were at an ubiquitous Vietnamese restaurant and each ordered dinner # such and such (soup, spring roll, grilled chicken or beef or shrimp or combination thereof).
I asked the waiter to substitute a small tonkinese soup over the included house soup and pay whatever difference (i hadn't had a Tonkinese soup up to that point). My buddy said yeah, me too, and so did his girlfriend.
"And you, ma'am" the waiter asked my girlfriend (now wife)
"No, not me, I'll stick to the house soup".
So we're thinking we're cutting edge, trying new and exciting, etc etc.
The waiter brings our 3 tonkinese and 1 house soup. 
We all dive in. 
We look at each other, and same as billieboy, think we're slurping dishwater.
"Yechhhh"
The wife had the last laugh that night as she really enjoyed the cilantro-less house soup.

That was maybe 20 years and over 7000 meals ago.
I've come to really appreciate and like cilantro. And yeah, many dishes just wouldn't be the same without.

Parsley....maybe not so much.

Answer

The thing I have found is that the dislike of cilantro is not like other food dislikes. I am not a picky eater by any means. Just a couple of things I don't like but don't make a big deal about it. But people who don't like cilantro absolutely HATE it and are very vocal about it.
Funny

Answer

There is asian ( don't know which country, maybe VietNam) that makes a side dish/condiment of almost pureed french shallots and cilantro, equal amounts of each with just a little salt and lime juice. Killer, killer kick ass delicious. Love cilantro!

Answer

I'm a hater, but I don't think it tastes like soap. On the contrary, it tastes like the world's worst BO.

I thought cilantro had its fifteen minutes about ten or fifteen years ago. For awhile it seemed like no pasta dish was safe. The stinkweed scourge seems to have subsided in recent years. It's still in many Asian dishes but I just pick it out.

Answer

You are in the minority, but you are absolutely not alone, not even here. I Loathe the stuff. So do the folks at www.ihatecilantro.com 

Tastes like somebody soaked pennies in dishwashing liquid, AFAIC.

Answer

I think it's a cultural and cuisine thing. If you grow up with it, it's usually less of an issue. The popularity of it with chefs is the influence of Asian and Latin cuisines. It really depends on how you use it. As a straight garnish...frankly who eats it? As a not so well thought out element in a non-traditional way, it can stand out.

I have no problem, wouldn't think of many things w/o it. I'm wondering if people notice it first after tasting it alone, then notice every time after that when it's used as an element, like in guac?

Side question to all: Anyone that hates it, do you like stinky cheeses as well?

Answer

It could also have to do with the freshness of cilantro. At my local Asian market, I always see miraculously tender and sweet cilantro leaves that people buy the bunch, but outside at some restaurants, I see some really old, rough cilantro that tastes incredibly sour and bad. And I love cilantro! It might have to do with the general quality and how prevalent it is in some areas.

Answer

The regularity with which this topic comes up on CH, and the many responses it STILL elicits, is fascinating.

Maybe I'm just such a super-person overall, but I used to hate, hate, hate that stuff. Went to Thailand and ordered everything without. Now I like it, especially in dishes from Asia or Latin/South America where it is called for. Without it, the dish would just not be the same.

But I still don't LOVE it. I don't sprinkle it on everything that holds still '-D

Answer

Cilantro? Love at first bite. The latest New Mexico magazine has a recipe for lovely light green cilantro crepes filled w/ fried shrimp for artsy tacos. Yum. A taco w/out cilantro is not a taco. My science wonk SIL says the dislike of cilantro is a genetic defect. Sorry bad cilantro dudes; you lose.

Answer

I love it, my husband hates it.

Answer

I love cilantro and it was love at first bite. I grow it and about 25 other herbs in my organic garden. Could not cook without any of them. Each has its place in whatever cuisine you're cooking, and each contributes its own particular flavor to the dish. 
Ya gotta edumacate yer palates, people.

Answer

Hate it...even the smallest amount of it can ruin an otherwise amazing dish for me. Particularly detest it in my fresh salsa...kills it for me!

Answer

I love it so much I even stop by the veggie section at the store just to smell it! (no worries..I don't sneeze on it..lol)

Answer

I never heard of cilantro until I worked in Arizona for a while 30 years ago. I like it in Mexican dishes, but don't use it in most other cuisines.

Answer

Question for those who know:

Cilantro is the leaf of the coriander plant. It's also called coriander leaf.

Coriander *seed* is also a spice. The leaf and the seed have completely different taste profiles and can not be substituted for each other.

Is the same true of parsley, rosemary, other herbs? Is there a use for the seeds? Do they taste different from the leaf?

I know basil seeds are used in one or two Indian dishes (desserts).

Answer

Cilantro is delicious.

Answer

Love cilantro, hate topics on love or hate___.... I'm never posting on one again (?)

Answer

I don't see why it should upset anyone that some people don't like cilantro. It isn't like secondhand smoke...if you want to put a mound of it on your taco, go for it, doesn't bother me.

Answer

In an earlier post I said I hated it. I can clarify that by saying that I hate it when it overtakes a dish. I actually have some fresh cilantro in my fridge for two recipes I'm making this week. But I will use it in a subtle, not overpowering way. I prefer to taste the dish as a whole rather than ewwwww cilantro (or any one ingredient really). And I do not think it's cultural; I am the unpickie-est person I know, raised on a variety of foods.

Answer

Hate it.

Answer

Scargod, this truly is any innocent post/question - at least on my part - and I see it as a very appropriate topic. I hate cilantro – that is a very true statement. I hold nothing personal against the little plant, just the manner in use abundance. It keeps showing up in foods where it has no business. Last week, I was at a small, local Italian restaurant and it was used in the alfredo sauce! Having eaten a couple of very good meals there before, I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that whoever did the shopping that morning intended to pick up parsley and grabbed a bunch of cilantro in error. 

That said, I was curious to know if people (and I understand this is a world-wide board) in VAST majority like cilantro to the degree that it is being used as some would use salt and/or pepper.

While seemingly not in an overwhelming majority, one thing is clearly obvious as evidenced in this thread. There are people who are passionately in "love" with the little green leaf.

Answer

One of the very popular local dishes at night markets in Taiwan is a sort of ice cream burrito. Made of a thin wheat crepe, shaved peanut candy, ice cream, and cilantro. 

http://hungryintaipei.blogspot.com/2009/01/taiwanesedessert-i-strongly-recommend.html

Yeah, sometimes even locals ask for it without the cilantro.

Answer

Good npr link upthread. (The gas chromatograph can't lie.) Those of us who like cilantro and find it exquisitely, elusively savory -- as truffles, or garlic, are savory -- must remember that some people truly are not tasting the same thing we are. This doesn't seem to extend to the seed (coriander), used in lots of cooking and seldom controversial.

I don't know about "trendy." Cilantro is ancient, in cooking of several regions long popular in the US, and lately US cooks experiment with everything. To the comment "at a small, local Italian restaurant [cilantro] was used in the alfredo sauce!" note that "Alfredo sauce" is a US invention, not too old either -- I remember before it. It certainly was unknown to the actual Alfredo de Lellio, whose "Fettuccine al Triplo Burro Maestose" dressed the noodles first with heart of best Parmesan, then a special triple butter, and salt. (According to Accademia Italiana della Cucina.) No cream, no "sauce." Alfredo in turn was just making a fine version of classic Roman Fettuccine al Burro.

Answer

Always disliked it and think it tastes like soap

Answer

I love it, it smells great and have a very fresh taste.

Answer

LOVE IT!

Answer

In my family, the women, including me, love cilantro, and all the guys hate it! To me it is the most delicious, fresh-tasting addition to soups, salads, etc.

Answer

If I was dying and knew I could be saved from eating Cilantro, I'd rather die.

Answer

love it

Answer

I recognize the soapiness of cilantro, but I love it anyway. Asian food and Mexican food are just empty without that extra dimension. The aroma is just heavenly.

Answer

I love cilantro but my dad hates it. I always have to forego the cilantro dishes if we're dining out together.

Answer

I LOVE cilantro, my parents love cilantro, and apparently, that's very unusual for Korean people. Koreans love pho, but mostly hate cilantro, so you'll see Koreanized pho joints occasionally. I guess my parents have some recessive gene or strange enzyme that makes us freaks of Korean nature.

http://fuckyeahcilantro.tumblr.com/

Answer

Please add me to the top of your "HATE IT" list. I can't even associate the flavor of cilantro with something as clean as soap. Truthfully, some variety of really nasty filth would better fit my description of it. I readily acknowledge that a lot of people must like it; but, chefs, please take note, whenever you add fresh cilantro to anything on the table, you are instantly ruining the dining experience for a lot of us. I suggest that fresh cilantro be offered as an optional condiment (since it's when it is served fresh or not thoroughly cooked that it usually retains it's offensive flavor). That should be a quick and simple solution to the whole problem.
Here's another note to chefs: If you are truly wanting to create and present authentic, full-flavored Mexican or Tex-Mex cuisine, adding cilantro throws you way off course. The coriander plant is not even native to the Western Hemisphere. In my region (Texas) it starting showing up in salsas about 25 or 30 years ago. Cooking shows were beginning to fill the airwaves. Then, a new generation of (perhaps well-meaning but pitifully misguided) chefs got the idea it was fashionable to garnish everything with cilantro. For me, and many others, it was (still is) a very bad and entirely foul-tasting decision. Now we have a whole gereration of both cooks and diners who (thanks to TV celebrity chefs who live a long way from Mexico) think cilantro has always been an essential ingredient in Mexican-type dishes. It even started showing up in Mexican markets and restaurants to serve the tastes of some American tourists. This seemed to validate the notion that cilantro is an authentic ingredient in Mexican food. Frankly, I wonder how often cilantro is used to mask the flavor of poorly prepared or otherwise inferior food. For certain, it's addition ruins what might have been some really delicious food. Regardless, no cilantro for me, please!

Answer

My daughters & I love it. My husband and mom hate it. They say it has a soapy taste. So I leave it out and the girls and I add is separately to our dishes.
Funny story: When my oldest daughter was in kindergarten, they were going around the class naming their favorited green food. She says proudly "Cilantro!", the other kids just looked at and were like what is that? She loved it from first bite.

Answer

I can't live without it! The more the better! But then, I'm from Texas. We're not to bright.

Answer

My first real taste of it many years ago turned me off it - the taste and aroma got to me. As I've gotten older, I can handle it in small moderation, especially in soups or stews. Preferably chopped up finely. :)

Answer

Love it, love it, love it. I can graze on it like a cow, and eat the stems when DH cuts them off to chop (I leave the stems on).

Answer

I lean toward hate. I can tolerate cilantro in small quantities, but it easily overpowers other flavors, and cilantro has a flavor with which I do not want to be overpowered. Cilantro should play a bit part in the concerto; it should never play a cadenza.

Answer

Love it. It should not, however, be sprinkled about in any old dish, for any whimsical reason, any more than anything else should. It's a powerful flavor and aroma, and needs to work in concert with other flavors to work to its best advantage.

But yes: I'm a fan of the stuff, especially in Asian and Mexican foods.

Answer

Love & hate. Slivers in rice, well made pico, cilantro pesto with lime on tender grilled chicken great- but overdone amts., mushy, inappropriate sub for say basil leaves or parsley...yuck.

Answer

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer

No, you are not in the minority. Just about everyone I know has stopped eating Mexican food, because it has been ruined by the NON traditional addition of this nasty “herb”. My take is that it was the brainchild of American chefs who pushed it as chic and trendy. In my experience, which is fairly extensive, it was NEVER added to anything I ate anywhere in Mexico or the US before it took off suddenly and started being promoted in recipes as “classic” and or “traditional”. Neither of which it had ever been until this time. Oh, and there are plenty of people who think it tastes like dead bodies, not soap, so I think the gene story is bull. Cilantro is nauseating enough to be hated on it’s own. No genetic disability necessary.

Answer

I love it in its proper place, like a nice bright salsa casera, on tacos al pastor, or with black beans and onions.

Answer

As a friend likes to say about cilantro - looks like parsley, tastes like sh*t!

Topics

Locations

Your post has been published!

Cilantro - Love it or Hate it?

More from Chowhound

Guides

The Ultimate Spring Produce Guide: What's in Season & How to Use It

Recipe Round-Ups

Quick and Easy Instant Pot Breakfast Recipes for Less Morning Stress

Guides

How to Care for Enameled Cast Iron So It Lasts a Lifetime

Home

The Best Tool to Clean a Wood Cutting Board Is Probably in Your Compost Bin

Trending Discussions

Chowhound Recipes That You are Saving

A Final Goodbye for Chowhound

Favorite Chowhound Memories

NY Times: Chowhound Closes After 25 Years of Food Obsession, Wisdom and Debate

January–April 2022 Baking COTM: DESSERT PERSON by Claire Saffitz

Quick Links

Latest Discussions

Cookbook of the Month

Dish of the Month

Weekly Menu Planning

Get fresh food news delivered to your inbox

12 Irish Foods to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day That Aren’t Corned Beef and Cabbage

Chowhound

Policies

Community

Editorial

Content