Tag: cilantro

I Really Do Hate Cilantro

On By SarahIn Food & Cooking, Fun & Entertainment, Internet, Opinion1 Comment

It happens just about every day. Each time I check my blog stats, I can see what search engine terms people are using to find my site (or more precisely how folks stumble upon my site with Google or whatever). Almost every day folks find my site by looking for the combined terms “cilantro” and “soap”. I’m not sure what these random strangers are hoping to find, but I guess they are finding a kindred spirit, a fellow cilantro hater, when they find my posting about the evil weed. I posted this entry seven months ago (April of 2007), and since then I have been getting hits on that posting just about every day.

Clearly I am not alone.

My entire family agrees with me that cilantro tastes like Palmolive, which offers me some comfort. I know a few people (not related to me) who share my taste, but often I feel alone in my abhorrence of the stuff. G and I now live near “Little Saigon” in Chicago, which has many Vietnamese restaurants that we are just beginning to explore. I really love pho and the fantastic sandwiches and pancakes that this regional cuisine is known for, but I cannot let my guard down about the cilantro. I really love to eat this food, but the evil weed just ruins it for me. My beloved loves itf, so we either order separately or ask for it on the side, which usually suffices. But once in a while we order a dish whose description mentions nothing about cilantro, and it is permeated with it.

I know, I know, it is hardly the end of the world, and there are certainly precautions I can take. Most restaurants will accommodate my tastes. But how would you like it if you were really hungry and just waiting with rapt anticipation for an absolutely savory bowl of deliciousness only to find that it has been generously seasoned with soap flakes?

Yech.

My observations about my blog stats are entirely unscientific, but I can see that I am not isolated. There are many others out there like me. In fact, there is a web-based social networking site dedicated to those of us to detest cilantro. Of course I had to join the community. My problem is that I love all of the foods I can think of that often contain cilantro. I love to eat, and I’m very adventurous about it. I’m not picky. I just happen to feel very strongly about this one thing.

Really, cilantro is a total buzz kill. For those of you out there who are looking for affirmation, you have found it. You are not alone!

Cilantro (Soap) on the Side

On By SarahIn Food & Cooking, Fun & Entertainment, Opinion7 Comments

I love Mexican food. I love Thai food. Why do the chefs at these restaurants have to ruin their delicious cuisine with the Evil Weed (as my friend likes to call it)?

It’s a little request, really. Just put the little green sprigs in a bowl on the side so those who enjoy it can sprinkle it liberally to their delight.

Seriously, the stuff tastes exactly like Palmolive to me. I can’t stand the smell of it! I know I’m not alone in this. And it has been suggested to me that those of us who taste cilantro as soap are slightly (or not so slightly) allergic to it. I don’t know because I hate the stuff so much I don’t think I’ve ever ingested enough of it to find out what the reaction might be. I guess the reaction of “blech!” is enough of an allergy for me.

Really. I was shopping last night, and every brand of salsa in the grocery store included cilantro. I have to make my own (which I’m not opposed to, but who has the time?). And tonight I had a meeting after work, and I had to grab a burrito at the Mexican restaurant down the street from my church, and it was laden with cilantro! I couldn’t eat it. I wanted to cry!

I know, I’m a little melodramatic, but seriously, when I’m hungry, you don’t want to mess with me. I get really cranky!

So, this blog is my soapbox, I just told someone, and let me tell you, I don’t like eating soap, or anything that tastes like soap!

Thank God for Casa Vallarta. They make an AWESOME chile relleno burrito, and their guacamole has no cilantro. This place is mere paces from my apartment, and I eat there frequently. For those of you in the ‘hood, this restaurant has amazing Mexican home cookin’. Really, this is a very tidy little hole in the wall whose fajitas really shouldn’t be missed. They make their corn tortillas by hand every day. And they don’t cook with cilantro.

I am so totally going there tomorrow.