Cilantro: A Chef's Gateway Herb

I love Cilantro. Cilantro, the popular name for the leaves and stem of the plant that also gives us the coriander spice, is an herb I can nearly never over-buy. However ridiculously large the bunches in which Cilantro is sold, I can always find a use for epic quantities thereof.

It is, in many ways, a wonderful gateway herb (of the legal variety); it's easy for beginning chefs to understand how to use cilantro when so many other spices require a more developed skill. Cilantro imbues whatever it touches with a strong flavor that manages to not be overpowering; it's difficult to overuse insofar as few dishes become completely unpalatable if you dump the whole cutting board's worth in on accident. It strengthens mild, mayo-based dressings (as for chicken, potato and noodle salads), adds complexity to spicy stews and chilis, and complements perfectly tangy sauces and marinades.

Some people love Cilantro as much as (or awkwardly more than) I do: see here.

Others really can’t stand it. I always sort of figured there was something wrong with these people who could not enjoy the wonder of the leaves of coriandrum sativum. I’m right, as it were – some individuals are genetically predisposed to dislike cilantro.

Though this genetic (I’m going to call it a) disorder is not fully understood understood, an article in today’s New York Times describes one theory behind “cilantrophobia.” Apparently the substances “flavor chemists” have identified as those that lend cilantro its aroma are chemically similar to lipid (fat) molecules called aldeyhdes, also found in many soaps and lotions. Taste and smell, evolutionarily speaking, developed as an additional way to find food and mates as well as avoid poisonous substances. So, when an individual with a certain genetic predisposition connects an aroma or flavor more powerfully with, say, industrial cleaning agents, those sensations evoke a powerful and negative emotional response. Hence: www.IHateCilantro.blogspot.com.

There is, however, hope. Neuroscientist Dr. Jay Gottfried, points out that this is all flavor pattern recognition – if you can make new associations and patterns for cilantro, you have a chance of redemption. He himself once disliked cilantro, but, in his own words, “’I love food, and I ate all kinds of things, and I kept encountering it. My brain must have developed new patterns for cilantro flavor from those experiences, which included pleasure from the other flavors and the sharing with friends and family.’”

So I basically have two conclusions at the end of the day:

1. I should have been a flavor chemist

2. I need to do serious vetting before I marry anyone who might prevent my children from loving cilantro as much as I do. Does that count as eugenics? Awwww…