Cilantro didn't always taste like soap

Cilantro is one of the most polarizing foods out there - but why? And what do stinkbugs have to do with anything?
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘁𝘆-𝗴𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝘆:
-Cadwallader, K. R., Surakarnkul, R., Yang, S.-P., & Webb, T. E. (1999). Character-impact Aroma Components of Coriander (Coriandrum Sativum L.) Herb. In F. Shahidi & C.-T. Ho (Eds.), Flavor Chemistry of Ethnic Foods (pp. 77-84). Springer US. doi.org/10.100...
-Eriksson, N., Wu, S., Do, C. B., Kiefer, A. K., Tung, J. Y., Mountain, J. L., Hinds, D. A., & Francke, U. (2012). A genetic variant near olfactory receptor genes influences cilantro preference. Flavour, 1(1), 22. doi.org/10.118...
-Leach, H. (2001). Rehabilitating the “Stinking Herbe”: A Case Study of Culinary Prejudice. Gastronomica, 1(2), 10-15. doi.org/10.152...
-Running, C., & Hayes, J. (2016). Individual Differences in Multisensory Flavor Perception (pp. 185-210). doi.org/10.101...
-Mauer L. (2011) Genetic determinants of cilantro preference [M.Sc. Thesis]. University of Toronto. doi.org/10.109...
-Mauer, L., & El-Sohemy, A. (2012). Prevalence of cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) disliking among different ethnocultural groups. Flavour, 1(1), 8. doi.org/10.118...
-Spence, C. (2023). Coriander (cilantro): A most divisive herb. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 33, 100779. doi.org/10.101...
-To Quynh, C. T., Iijima, Y., & Kubota, K. (2010). Influence of the Isolation Procedure on Coriander Leaf Volatiles with Some Correlation to the Enzymatic Activity. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 58(2), 1093-1099. doi.org/10.102...
𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 (𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲) 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀:
-curiousclinici...
-www.nytimes.co...
-www.livescienc...
-www.washington...
-www.epicurious...
𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀:
- • Why Does Cilantro Tast...
- • Why Do Some People Hat...
𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿-𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰:
-Angela Lovero, Entomologist at the New Jersey State Department of Agriculture
-Dr. Don Weber, Research Entomologist at the USDA Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory
-Dr. Linda Bartoshuk, Bushnell Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Florida
𝗔 𝗛𝗨𝗚𝗘 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗯𝘂𝗴 𝘀𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘀:
Stephen, Hannah, Donna, Jessica, Janet, Sarah, Ben, Benji, Kiley, Brian, Cheryl, Paige, Aurelio, Scott, Carrie, Austin, Bodhi, Maddux, Mary, Tiffany, Joe, Erin, Nicki, Toshi
MinuteFood is created by Kate Yoshida, Arcadi Garcia & Leonardo Souza, and produced by Neptune Studios LLC.
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[@MinuteFood]

Come join us at come join us at patreon.com/Minutefood! You'll get access to gorgeous printables, discount merch codes, early access to our videos, fun polls and conversations - and, right now, some great outtakes from this bug-tastic video!

[@TojiFushigoroWasTaken]

3 days ago....thats sus

[@victoriaeads6126]

If you think marmorated stinkbugs are pretty, you've clearly never had one drunkenly fly around a room, only to land directly on you seemingly out of nowhere (despite being loud and terrible flyers) then get nervous and vomit that awful stink all over. It will cure any admiration, believe me.

[@BearsThatCare]

This is just like how bed bugs smell like mulberries. I wonder whats up with that. (posting again so you may make a pt. 2!)

[@ulture]

I've noticed one inaccuracy: when you said 'a few hundred years ago soap wasn't as big a part of daily life as today'... people in the past used soap just as much as they do now (probably more, in fact, because we have shampoo, shower gel, and dedicated specific dish soaps and laundry detergents), but it would've been soap they made themselves at home from animal fat, and so only the more expensive soap made by professional artisans and used by aristocrats would have had the perfumes that give modern soap its smell.

[@cezarcatalin1406]

I find coriander seeds to be MORE soapy than fresh leaves. Ironically, I like the pungent “soapy” notes but I somehow also despise stink bugs… Tell me how that works 😂

[@Pfhorrest]

You asked if they would send you some stinkbugs "...aaaand crickets". For a moment I was wondering "what do you want the crickets for?" before I realized you meant that as a euphemism for silence, not that you had actually requested they send you crickets in addition to stinkbugs.

[@shiNIN42]

I've read many times crickets are tasty ;) Sadly I only got some covered by spicy flour so they tasted flour, yuck!

[@rhyscooper3693]

I ate chapulines in Mexico, cooked crickets. They're frankly delicious

[@michellegiacalone1079]

My thoughts exactly! *lol* Curious minds think alike!

[@miriamrosemary9110]

Same!

[@Call-me-Al]

​@@shiNIN42 The roasted crickets i tasted was nothing to write home about. Not bad, not notable. I heard it's better as cricket flour to cook with, though. Roasted buffalo "worms" are so good though, and if they're not roasted and just used in cooking like made into burger patties then they taste like extremely delicious whole grain bread.

[@olivetree9920]

My description for cilantro has always been "it tastes like stinkbugs smell" and I feel validated

[@AZ-tf2hx]

This is how shiitake mushrooms taste to me

[@lealcy]

Me too. When I say it, people always ask if I have eaten stink bugs to know the taste. Shitake I find delicious.

[@civilbeard]

I use the exact same phrase!

[@christopherstachowski1404]

Me too!!

[@SecondaryHomunculus]

Yes! Thank you! After decades, I still get almost nothing but strange looks and confusion from people when I say that.

[@lodewykk]

Stink bugs smelling like cilantro and people liking it is one of life’s greatest plot twists to me. I still have shell shock from smelling a stink bug as a kid.

[@AnimeSunglasses]

There ARE a lot of different stink bugs...

[@SatanEnjoyer]

Yeah I got enough stink bug smell as a kid for a lifetime. They smell like undescribable garbage, but I love cilantro

[@xethified]

Stinkbugs don't smell bad to me weirdly. They smell strange and I don't want to smell like them but it doesn't smell stinky nor soapy but like parsley. Never been brave enough to taste one lol.

[@opabinnier]

Me too!!! I was only 3 and this handsome shield bug let me pet it and hold it and stayed in my hand as I fell asleep; then I was woken by mum. I opened my hand and the stinkbug had had enough, letting out a shocking explosion of pure toxicity. I was scarred for life. Coriander is a stomach churning nightmare; coriander seeds are like fermenting garbage! How can anything smell and taste so foul??? This is beyond extreme. I need a sit-down!

[@justskip4595]

Stink bugs that I am familiar with here in Finland look slightly different to those in the video and I am too familiar with the smell and taste of those (Yes, I have tasted those something like 30 times in my life because they have been hiding with berries). The smell is extremely strong and smelled as close by as in the video would make be gag real bad. Taste has made me empty my stomach once. The reaction I get from it could be compared to White spirit/Mineral spirit/Mineral turpentine (There are even more names for this stuff) like revolting substance detected. Making me try to get away from it and being around it is very unpleasant.

[@onewholovesvenison5335]

Thank you for mentioning that we WANT to be able to enjoy cilantro. We’re not just contrarians or people who “hate flavor”

[@Wikrin]

It isn't even the flavor to me, though the smell itself is way too strong. It's the unpleasant, coated mouth feel. It's like taking a sip of a heavily perfumed candle.

[@MM-jf1me]

​@@Wikrin Oh, very interesting! I hadn't heard of that before.

[@playgroundchooser]

Yeah.. I don't need to like it. It should really just go extinct.

[@Emiliapocalypse]

Did anybody seriously think you were just being ‘difficult’??

[@Teelirious]

Yes. People would. Or think you're being trendy. Or are one of those people who claim to be allergic, etc. to everything they don't like. Mos def people are like that. Folks will roll their eyes at anything outside their personal experience.

[@mtardibu]

This is incredibly validating. I told my wife that cilantro tastes like bitterness and soapiness, but then I can never tell when she put cilantro in her soups. I didn't know cutting it and cooking it would tame the soapy taste.

[@martabachynsky8545]

It's the same with me. I can't stand fresh cilantro, but it tastes good cooked or if it's sat out for a while after being chopped. My husband loves it in any form.

[@flaviopons142]

it doesn't work for me, even completely chopped and cooked 🥲

[@MyFiddlePlayer]

Same here, and I'm glad the video explained this. I didn't understand why sometimes I don't mind cilantro, and other times it ruins the food for me...now I know that the "really fresh" stuff is full of that aldehyde tastes nasty to me. What the video didn't explain, though, is why can't seem to smell stink bugs (they just smell sort of like dirt).

[@AnotherBrainArt]

For me, it doesn’t. I can detect the tiniest bit of cilantro in a dish even if cooked and it’ll ruin the dish for me. I wonder if autistic hyper-sensitivity adds to this for me.

[@AnotherBrainArt]

I haven’t been around stink bugs though so I don’t know how they smell

[@AltayHunter]

This video is so vindicating! Back when we were overrun with invasive stinkbugs I kept telling people that they smell exactly like cilantro and no one believed me.

[@floraidh4097]

Same, I have been telling my friends this for years. It's not soap for me it's stink bug.

[@AdeleiTeillana]

For years I've been smelling stink bugs when I walked through the hallway of my apartment complex at dinnertime. I knew it had to be cooking related and looked it up a few months ago and found it was cilantro. 😂

[@creamydonk]

@@floraidh4097 I finally got the 'soap' association by doing the dishes with boiling water. When the soapy fumes hit my nose it all clicked. But yeah most of the time it's stinkbug for me.

[@Acolis]

stink bugs smell nothing at all like cilantro

[@johncodyhawkins880]

​@@Acolis cilantro literally has the same aromatic compounds as stink bugs.

[@yawnberg]

April 1st on KZbin is frustrating. I honestly wasn't sure it was a legit video until almost halfway in.

[@Filipnalepa]

I watched till the end and I'm still not sure.

[@MinuteFood]

Totally legit! Just an ironic day to release this slightly-offbeat video...

[@knpark2025]

@@MinuteFood My device says it was released somewhere around 2 AM on April *2nd* in my local time. I wasn't confused, thankfully.

[@MrKirby365]

I know this is gonna sound really bizarre but I can taste both the soapy flavor and the kind of fresh herb flavor that people maybe taste.I know I experienced both but it is certain enough that I don't enjoy it

[@roninnder]

Stuck in 2005?

[@Qwerbey]

When I first had a dish with noticeable cilantro, I honestly thought the cook forgot to rinse the pot

[@javaskull88]

I’m sad for you, you’re missing a real treat.

[@JustMeB729]

I thought I was being punked😅. I was in California pizza parlor. Had a pizza I though was washed in dish soap. I did find out it was cilantro.

[@philipps3988]

Me too

[@montananerd8244]

I am surprised that there isn’t a note or anything on menus. Omg my kid is so picky, I am sure he’s never had cilantro voluntarily but I wonder if that is why he is so terrified of Mexican food. Who knows what he tried as a little kid & ppl with the soap flavor must really hate it

[@Qwerbey]

@@montananerd8244 That very well could be, but I also remember being way more sensitive to spicy food when I was a kid too. I honestly think cilantro should be labelled like an allergen given how too much of it can make a dish virtually inedible if you've got the soap flavor. I went to a burrito place where I only found out they put it in most of the fillings after I had already ordered, and I could only eat the parts that didn't have those fillings

[@mcchuggernaut9378]

Your advice to substitute Coriander (Ground Cilantro seed, especially fresh ground) was life-changing! I get the flavor I desire out of it when mixing a bit of it into a nice Mexican dish, without that cloying soapiness I taste from fresh Cilantro. I also enjoy the chopped stems a lot more than the leaves.

[@HyruleanHyroe]

Was looking for this comment! I am hugely put off by cilantro but I’ve always loved coriander, to the point where I maybe put it in stuff it shouldn’t be in 😂 I remember learning that the two were from the same plant and being completely floored.

[@fungushoney9958]

FINALLY SOMEONE MENTIONED THE BUGS!! The weird part is though I'm an enjoyer of cilantro and I eat it all the time, except for a year or two following a terrible stinkbug encounter in my kitchen. The body after it's dead doesn't hold a candle to what a bug that feels under attack can do to all the air in a room. The Aldehyde of duality, capable of great pleasure and great pain.

[@disjustice]

I am a soap taster and I couldn't stand cilantro when I first encountered it 30 or so years ago... But over time, it grew on me and now I love it. I barely register it as "soapy" anymore.

[@eypandabear7483]

Yep, same here. I hated how it kept me from enjoying Indian food. So I made a point of adding progressively more of it on purpose until I got used to it.

[@AutoGibbon]

"I am a soap taster" hehehe.

[@Kyle496]

What's your favorite brand to taste? Mine is Irish spring

[@Avendesora]

@@squidward5110 what’s your opinion on ARFID?

[@Hal_142]

​​@@squidward5110what an incredibly ignorant statement to make. you are more than allowed to not like how things taste. that's the entire reason cooking and culinary history exists. because we want things to taste good. if people thought like you we would just eat nutrition blocks with no taste because people are afraid of being seen as "lacking character" . such a stupid and ignorant opinion wow.

[@internetshaquille]

Idk how it happened but I tasted the soap just ONCE, a few years ago. It made the food totally inedible, so I sympathize with those who have that sensation all the time

[@themanhimself3]

I want to like cilantro so bad, but it literally taste like dawn dish soap right in the mouth.

[@BaseReality]

That happened to me when I grew my own Cilantro from seed. All store bought Cilantro tastes fine. I was thinking of experimenting to see if it was an environmental factor of how the Cilantro was grown (e.g. different soil, more/less light etc) but realised that I couldn't really justify spending that much time on it.

[@prakash86anish]

There are two types/varieties of cilantro as per my experience. I live in India and we use it in every dish. The taste is almost indistinguishable if they are added while cooking (when added to hot food) in small quantity. But if consumed raw or used to make chutney, you can taste the difference. Every once in a while we are blessed with that awkward cilantro variety and end up throwing away the chutney right after grinding.

[@skootties]

it really sucks that most people just think I'm incredibly picky, which I'm totally not. even a whiff really does actually instantly ruin your appetite

[@maphantom]

@@prakash86anish Not from India, but can confirm that happening as i'm also in a part of the world that consumes it both fresh and cooked. My guess is that it must be something in the environment as we plant a lot of food we eat and we didn't use to have much choice for seeds not even 15 years ago. I think it might be some kind of defense against pests if it is not from soil.

[@ibigfire]

Buglike is *way* more accurate of a way to describe cilantro to me than soap. Thank you!

[@grey_emi]

OMG you recreated my EXACT experience! Years ago, a stink bug flew onto my face so of course I freaked out and slapped it, which crushed it. Right under my nose. It was like I had just snorted a cilantro smoothie into my sinuses. Horrible! And yes, I am a cilantro hater (tho, as noted in your vid, I wish I weren't.) Prior to that experience, I described cilantro's scent as a combo of soap and bad BO, but since that time my go to has been "crushed stink bug". THANK YOU for making this video, I don't think you can adequately imagine my feelings of VINDICATION! I am sharing this immediately with everyone I know, whatever their position on cilantro. You just gained a subscriber!

[@eiPderF]

I just had a visceral reaction to “cilantro smoothie into my sinuses.” 🤢 thank you for that 😂

[@jcl5345]

Why do you wish you liked cilantro? You can like or dislike any flavor. Humans did not evolve to enjoy every plant nature provides. Additionally, many cultures have a favorite herb or plant or animal food. Doesn't mean we have to strive so hard to enjoy it. Why would we? Because you want to appreciate a different culture? Doesn't have to be with food...

[@-ZH]

@@jcl5345 It’s just annoying to always have to ask people to not add the coriander, and having a worse experience with the food if you forget.

[@improvwithlions4173]

Thanks for explaining what cilantro is supposed to taste like. I know some people learn to tolerate/like it, but it ruins a dish for me so much that trying to mitigate it with the methods you mentioned would be way too risky. I have noticed that seeds don't give me the same issues though, sauces/spice mixes that include them are miraculously edible. I'm glad to have some validation on that.

[@abtinbarzin8369]

Gotta be real, as an invasive ecology undergrad currently taking a class in entomology, this thumbnail was a shock and a half. Partly because I was confused at the topic, partly because I was surprised that I actually recognized the species on sight (you used a very clear and well defined image, which helped a lot).

[@gunnarthegumbootguy7909]

I grew up in the country in sweden so i was exposed to stinkbugs very early in life, every now and then you'd pick a berry in the wild or in the garden and it would have a stinkbug on it or even a stinkbug may have left its scent even if the bug was gone, so i was very familiar with the smell but i didn't taste coriander until i was 13 or something when i had some thai shrimp dish as cilantro isn't used much or at all in modern swedish cooking (but it was fairly common hundreds of years ago), and it tastes exactly the same. However berries that have had stinkbugs on them often also have some thing that tastes bitter, which you can't smell of course, but it makes the experience worse, and also the stinkbugs are much more intense than cilantro. I still think they taste exactly like stinkbugs, but i still like it. I still fear getting berries that have been stinkbugged though and even handling cilantro and other fruit at the same time sometimes startles me some times as even the smallest wift of that smell makes me think the fruit or berries have been stinkbugged so i always wash my hands after handling cilantro/coriander. In swedish the word for stinkbug is "bärfis" meaning "berryfart".

[@robinedwards8796]

OMG, this comment made my day! I have an 11yo who is going to LOVE this fun fact!!! 😆☺

[@zagrizena]

Second that 100%. I love coriander seeds, kinda like cilantro, but only in certain contexts (preferably with a lot of lemon/lime juice) and absolutely abhor the stinkbugged berries. Recalling that taste though, yeah, it gives some kind of soapiness, but mostly it's annoying because it catches you unaware expecting a fresh, sweet berry flavour and hits your palate like a ton of bricks.

[@montananerd8244]

Not sure we have stinkbugs here, but I do gather wild berries and I would be so sad if they got stinkbugged!

[@joshuaychung]

This is awesome. We had an Easter brunch yesterday where we spent good 15 minutes arguing whether the stink bugs (nasty invasive bugs in northern Illinois these days) smell like cilantro. I think the stink bugs smell like cilantro but nastier. I just forwarded this video link to everyone at the brunch yesterday. Of course, some think MinuteFood is listening to our conversations, and MinuteFood is really the AI overlord that we've been afraid of. For me, personally, I'd welcom MinuteFood as the benevolent overlord.

[@MinuteFood]

WE ARE LISTENING

[@21centdregs]

i despise cilantro and ive always said it smells like stink bugs, but fam n friends thought i was crazy until i googled it and showed em about the shared aldehydes. great video, i wish id had it on hand back then :)

[@momomunsta8887]

When I was a kid, just opening the crisper and getting a whiff of the smell would make me gag. After eating small amounts of it for years (mom’s cooking)I eventually adjusted and now it tastes like a sugary, refreshing, and citrus herb. Thanks mom

[@TheMrFrukt]

Honestly, I do feel the soapyness of cilantro, but I always thought it was the very thing it's being liked for. And I like cilantro because of that. Maybe that's weird, but that taste grew up on me.

[@GastropodGaming2006]

You need to graze on some cilantro patches god damn

[@tablecork]

Same! I hated it, I thought it tasted detergenty. After a while, the soapy taste became milder and now it tastes "fresh"

[@Vespyr_]

I'm like this with ginger. Ginger tastes like a bar of soap to me.

[@archerelms]

A lot of people feel this way actually

[@TheMrFrukt]

@@archerelms didnt know. Do you?

[@silentben]

I'm a soap taster, but that disposition has never stopped me from eating cilantro for some reason. I love Mexican food too much to avoid it, even when making it myself at home.

[@DrakonIL]

Same! Tastes a bit soapy to me but I still love the stuff.

[@theperfectexceeder]

same for me as well. i taste soap but i'm still perfectly capable of enjoying foods containing cilantro. i wouldn't say i generally enjoy the taste of soap though, so i'm kinda puzzled by it.

[@lyndafjellman3315]

Mexican food hasn't always had cilantro in it. I have cookbooks from before the 1980's that don't have a wisp of cilantro.

[@silentben]

@@lyndafjellman3315 interesting. It's been a part of Mexican cuisine since the conquistadors, so perhaps it's just a very Americanized Mexican cookbook. We also flood tacos here with cheese and lettuce, but traditional Mexican tacos only are topped with raw onions, cilantro and lime.

[@88porpoise]

In most Mexican foods, cilantro is a very small part. While it does add a (bad) flavour, it is largely overwhelmed by other (good) flavours so it isn't a big deal. I have never had issues eating such foods with cilantro in them although, I would take it without if that were an option. On the other hand, one time in China I had an onion bread in a street market with a solid layer of cilantro in it (that I was not aware of and never having eaten anything with cilantro as a main component before). It really was like biting into a bar of soap and I had to spit it out, if I tried to swallow I would have vomitted.

[@AstroAnalysis]

I was very excited to see this video, since I only recently tried cilantro for the first time and found it absolutely disgusting! Even before my food was set in front of me at a restaurant, I could smell something very nasty emanating from the bowl. Reading online that some find it soap-y was very surprising, since I could not pick up on anything remotely soap-like at all-and if fact, soap sounded _good_ compared to what I found cilantro to taste and smell like. Reading about stink bugs later, however, made much more intuitive sense to me. It did indeed smell like something natural & foul-smelling. Very informative video, thank you!

[@bcccfweirdo]

Me too! I always felt like I was lying when I explained to my mom that some people say it tastes like soap, but to me it smelled like stink bugs and not like soap. I also grew up where there were sooo many stinkbugs so they are the only things I think of when I smell or eat cilantro. (Yes I have accidentaly bitten stinkbugs, and the reason cilantro tastes like them is because the smell brings me flashbacks 😂😭)

[@patitoshore]

Yes! I'm convinced that it's just a mindset! I've always loved it, but if I think about it it does taste kind of soapy, which isn't as nice. I think if people focus on the freshness and stop thinking about the soapiness everyone can love it. It's kind of my theory for all food. Spread the word!

[@-Devy-]

​@@patitoshore That's the stupidest, most arrogant comment I've seen.

[@patitoshore]

@@-Devy- wow

[@woodfur00]

@@-Devy- I envy you

[@ExaltedWarrior]

The reason that the stink bugs didn't smell is because you have to crush them. We get these bugs in Nebraska. There very evasive entering the our home to overwinter. When I catch one I will usually crush it with a napkin or paper towel and the smell is pungent enough to go through the layers of paper towels and scent my skin. Jus FYI I like the taste of cilantro but not then scent of stink bugs.

[@thehillsidegardener3961]

Ours you don't have to crush, it's enough to touch one, eugh... They've ruined the flavour of coriander/cilantro for me...

[@minacapella8319]

Human genetics and our 5 senses are both so fascinating no matter how much we already know or dont know. Theres so much nuances in both topics despite so many people insisting on them being very simple, black and white topics.

[@lesterverde]

This is great! I am very firmly in the hater-camp when it comes to cilantro and I am EXTREMELY sensitive to it. It makes any dish completely unpalatable to me. (And yes, people have "tested" me on this. I can detect cilantro in dishes no matter how small the amount, even when cilantro-lovers insist there's no cilantro flavor present.) I have had a great many absolutely miserable experiences in restaurants because cilantro was "hidden" in a dish -- that is, not listed on the menu as an ingredient. (And I don't feel it's reasonable for me to demand a replacement or to not have to pay given it's not like there's anything *wrong* with the dish, and besides, its very presence usually makes me lose my appetite anyway. That's how strong my reaction is to the stuff.) But the thing is, I have never understood the "it tastes like soap" thing. It doesn't taste anything like soap to me. When I've been asked in the past to describe what it DOES taste like, I always draw a blank. It tastes like "not food" is the best I could do. Because that's the issue for me -- when it's present, my brain just starts screaming, "Do not put this in your mouth! It is not edible!" But watching this I realize that yeah, it DOES taste the way stinkbugs stink. And where I live -- Madison, WI -- they have been regular visitors in my home so I definitely know that (awful) smell, and it is not one I would ever associate with soap. Huzzah! I now have an answer next time I am asked.

[@Xiuhtec]

I have your cilantro response to celery. Almost every soup is inedible because almost everyone puts celery in soup, and even the tiniest amount that most people say they can't even taste ruins the entire batch for me.

[@plantsb4pants978]

Agreed. As a fellow cilantro hater i have never understood the comparison to soap…. It just tastes inedible. The first time i tasted it i was eating thai food and i just had to run to the bathroom to spit it out. It was a nice place so there was no place to spit it and im not gonna spit food into a cloth napkin. At that point i didnt know it was cilantro. I genuinely had no idea what i tasted but it was so revolting that my first instinct was to run to the bathroom to spit it out, which i can guarantee is not something i ever do. I was so embarrassed because obviously i reacted super dramatic and had no idea what i even tasted that did that. It wasnt until many years later when eating mexican food and i tasted the taste again that i realized it must be cilantro, though i was still so confused about it supposedly tasting like soap. Personally i can eat small bits of it i think. Especially if its slightly cooked. But raw leaves of cilantro are just disgusting for me. Can’t do it.

[@MelissaThompson432]

It tastes like garbage. I've never eaten garbage, but I looked up Things That Contain Aldehydes once trying to work it out for myself, and one of the things is roadkill. So, for me, Cilantro tastes like "If You Eat This You Will Die Slowly, In Pain." I don't like crushing stinkbugs. They're harmless, on the plus side, and they do smell disgusting, on the minus side. But cilantro smells like painful death.

[@MelissaThompson432]

I can detect the soap, though; dish soap, specifically. It used to remind me of the smell of the sink drain after somebody washed very neglected dishes by hand but didn't clean the sink. (I won't talk about my relatives, but the sink situation was a specific event.) Also, with a touch of mold. Yep. Mold releases aldehydes into the air.

[@thisisplana]

Like you, I can’t stand it and it tastes nothing like soap. Raw cilantro tastes to me like metal and bile. If I put a penny on my tongue and threw up in my mouth it would be the same. This *is* very similar to how stinkbugs smell to me. I also have a similar aversion to celery and cucumber- both taste horribly metallic to me in raw form.

[@TarenNauxen]

I didn't have an opinion on cilantro for a long time, but after a HUGE stinkbug infestation one summer (Chicago suburbs) now that's all I can think of when I chop cilantro

[@aroymart]

I am a cilantro lover but always had some weird connection in my brain between stink bugs and cilantro. When I saw the thumbnail I felt so vindicated. Fascinating stuff !!

[@theshamanite]

I have a hard time describing the taste of cilantro outside of earthy but fresh. It's almost mintlike, and it's easier for me to like when prepared with other foods than it is to eat it fresh and plain. It smells like it could pair well with lilac or lavender, it tastes rly good with lime juice when I use it in guac

[@SagarRavrane]

Thanks for all the videos! You all keep my flame of enthusiasm burning forever!

[@thany3]

It is also possible of course, that lovers of cilantro/coriander just simply like the flavour of soap.

[@USchyldt]

YES! Exactly!

[@niceguy191]

Yes, Thrills gum must exist for a reason

[@SatanEnjoyer]

Yeah I don't mind it but I won't eat it lmao.

[@hattielankford4775]

Would that count as Pica?

[@ssgoko88]

​@@hattielankford4775cilantro is food. Pika is when you are compelled to eat something that isn't food.

[@DragonWorksOfficial]

I absolutely hate cilantro and I can't detect soapiness to it. In my part of Europe those stinkbugs are green and would sometimes enter your home - maybe once or twice a month, especially in the summer. If you're careful not to disturb them, you're good. But if they get disturbed by a human or a pet, they start stinking this very particular smell. We call them stinkers here. And when I first tasted cilantro, I was aghast that someone would put an herb into their food that had the same taste like a stinker bug. I threw away the first dish I cooked with it and when I see another recipe on KZbin with cilantro, I'm like - okay, how are those people not appalled by the taste of it? I didn't even realize they're not tasting the same thing as me. Not until now that is. Most people I know don't like cilantro. And we don't use it in our national dishes. I'm pretty sure it's an evolutionary thing - i.e. our ancestors have evolved to hate the smell/taste, due to it being connected to those bugs. Same thing with lactose intolerance - people here generally don't have it. Nor allergies to peanuts etc. I bet a few people do, but I bet it's about historical diets and self-preservation habits building an immunity or weakness towards certain ingredients/chemicals.

[@wihatmi5510]

My own history with coriander could be interesting to you. I grew up with these bugs and let them crawl over sticks and played with them every time I walked in the woods. Sometimes I caught them with a jar and took them home. These bugs are very common here in southern Germany so the he smell has been absolutely familiar to me since I was little. I first encountered fresh coriander when I was already an adult. And it was probably the first time that I found the taste of a food disgusting and couldn't eat it. Normally I can eat pretty much anything. However, since I was firmly convinced that the taste of coriander was an acquired taste that one had to get used to, I continued to try it until I liked it more and more. Today I love coriander and use it in almost all of my dishes. By the way, I never noticed the taste as soapy. I can't even understand how soap and coriander are similar since I don't see any overlap between the smells. What I find extremely soapy is green cardamon after it has been cooked. I first noticed this in an Indian restaurant where it was cooked with rice. And I love this taste. Maybe as a child I had a bath foam that smelled exactly like that. When my mother said at some point that my food tasted too soapy, I tried leaving out the cardamom because I was convinced that this must be what was meant. Up to this point I had never heard of coriander tasting soapy and it was only after a while that we found out together that she had meant coriander. Although neither of us had ever heard of the soap-bug-cilantro connection, the first time I smelled it, I immediately smelled the bug and my mother smelled the soap. I, on the other hand, despite trying hard, can't smell or taste any soapy smell to this day. Unfortunately, I can't say whether we actually taste the herb differently or whether we describe the same taste differently.

[@squidward5110]

"Continued to try it until I liked it more and more" I'm convinced that the soapiness and the aldehydes is all factually true bullsh!t and what actually determines wether or not you like food you didn't eat as a child is your openness to new experiences

[@lagerhausjonny]

If you never tasted the soapyness then maybe you just don't taste what other people taste. I think there is an element where Cilantro/Coriander might just also be an aquired taste, something that is not picked up super automatic. I cannot eat it because even the tiniest amount immediately overpowers any other flavor in the entire dish and I taste nothing but dish soap plus a bit of whatever it is I'm having. Its just disgusting and inedible. So for you the missing piece was maybe just getting to like it enough as you ate more of it. I had that experience with Sushi. The first time I ate it was not great and it was kinda off putting but there was something there and it made me go back to it after a while until it became a regular food I eat every now and then. But its not the same with people that can't eat it due to that soapy taste.

[@petehoover6616]

I used to wonder why garlic keeps away vampires until I saw how Italians use garlic deliberately to keep away Germans.

[@nightfallsongbird]

Stinkbugs invade my house every winter, so while I don’t taste soapy cilantro, I always have to shake the thought of those annoying little beatles

[@ludwigiapilosa508]

They aren't beetles

[@green929392]

@@ludwigiapilosa508 🤓

[@empyie666]

This is SO interesting, thank you so much for sharing this! I wanted to contribute a little bit to the conversation and say that I have a cute story about stink bugs. I live in North Carolina, so they're super common around here, especially around this time of year. I have a crack in my bathroom that bugs can get in from, and there's been a little family of stink bugs living in the shower for a couple weeks now. Sometimes they get caught in the bath water and I always pick them up and dry them off and whatnot, and I really think that they're aware that I'm helping them. When I'm in the bathroom now they like to fly around and land on me, and they don't release their scent, so I think that they trust me. They're actually really cute and gentle bugs and they don't bite or sting! I think they're just adorable and I love having this little family in my house. I've been thinking about researching what they eat so I can feed them too, haha. I've always loved bugs but I think stink bugs are one of the most unexpected friends I could've found. I always let spiders live in my house because they kill mosquitos, but honestly, I don't care if the stink bugs actually help me in any way, I just like having some cute little bug friends around.

[@mollygilfillan6551]

Love your story! It’s is inspiring, people crush bugs in their house, often better to transfer them outsid. creating little make-believe stories about this bug family living and flying around in the bathroom, 🪳🪲🐞think children’s book, comics, cartoons, fables, etc. would be such fun and send a positive message, in my humble opinion of course. Thank you for sharing empie5763

[@a.p.5429]

​@@mollygilfillan6551never squish a stink bug. 😂 they'll regret that.

[@FloofyCat]

All my life I've always smelt this "buggy" scent from cilantro/coriander and now I get to know why. Great video as always!👍🏼

[@wile123456]

I'm half way through the video and I'm still waiting for the April fools joke

[@photovincent]

Every soap ends with a cliffhanger, duh

[@Blxz]

The real joke is eating coriander regularly in a vain attempt to make it taste good.

[@NaveenRajKatare]

I'm so glad you made this video. I like cilantro in cooking, but whenever I eat it raw, I always feel that it smells/tastes like bugs. I couldn't even explain that to anyone without them thinking I was crazy. Now I know why, and I have solid proof!

[@alexanderdeburdegala4609]

I really appreciate you taking the time to actually apply the scientific method.

[@-beee-]

How cool! I love the exploration of how people throughout history have described or explained a scent/flavor! I would love to see more like this.

[@AelwynMr]

In Italy we don't use cilantro at all in cooking, while stinkbugs are everywhere. Everybody thinks cilantro smells of stinkbugs, which apparently makes it inedible 😂

[@lilywashere27]

"apparently"? Do you like stink bugs perchance? If so, I'm challenging you to a duel ⚔️🛡️ (casa mia è infestata di orribili stupide cimici che non muoiono nemmeno d'inverno)

[@Daniel-yy3ty]

I was confused by what you said, but then looking it up I realized that cilantro and parsley are not the same thing... I never went beyond pictures before 🤣

[@AelwynMr]

@@lilywashere27 I'm happily not a fan of stinkbugs, which means you don't have to die in a duel with me. I do like cilantro. Yes, they smell almost the same, but so do blue cheese and my old socks, and people eat it nonetheless.

[@lilywashere27]

@@AelwynMr nice! Now we might form an alliance against their evil treat 🤝 I have nothing against cilantro as a food, and I love blue cheese... I'm just really keen on hating stink bugs P.S. le persone mangiano i tuoi vecchi calzini? 😂

[@MelissaThompson432]

Ah, Italy: home of my appetite!

[@corviraptor]

i think i have cilantro soapiness but i find it quite nice. at first it was a little bit of a weird tone under some indian food where i was like "that's soap!" but the food was good enough that i didn't really even register it as a negative, and then i grew to like it quite a bit and find it adds a bit of "freshness" (which is, admittedly, a frustratingly literal connection for my brain to make). ironically enough the smell of peppermint makes me retch though also i feel i should mention: this video is really good!! MinuteFood as a whole seems to work really well with my brain I think, so thank you for doing what you do!

[@Timmel7]

Here in Germany it is pretty common to encounter the bugs. And yeah, as soon as you said it, the similarity between These smells became shockingly clear.

[@Vindolin]

The first time I smelled cilrantro I instantly thought "Stinkwanzen!". Soapy smell would never have crossed my mind. Try smelling black currant plants, they smell very similar.

[@T1tanAtlas]

This was an awesome video! I love cilantro but also do get a hint of soapiness. It’s so fascinating how delightfully complex everyday experiences are. Thanks so much for the work you all put into the video

[@lucyshnyr5647]

Yeeeah! What a satisfying sense of being validated 😊 at last!! I always said cilantro tastes like stinkbugs („oh no, that bedbug salad again“ 😆) and most people laughed at me :) No, I didn’t eat bugs, but they are really common here in Europe (Ukraine where I grew up and Germany where I live for a long time now). Thus I used to smell it a lot as a child because they flew into the house and we were trying to catch them and throw them out (don’t touch! It lingers on the skin for hours or even days), or encountered tons of them when playing outside. I also „tasted“ them because my grandmother used to have a garden with lots of raspberry bushes - I loved raspberries, but sometimes they tasted like bugs because there’s a variety of small green stinkbug that inhabits these bushes. I always checked before eating berries straight from the branch, but apparently the bugs are so stinky that the smell lingers even if they just sat on a berry a while ago. It was horrible 😳 tasting them, much worse then cilantro 😅😂 P. S. interesting: I happen to love coriander seeds and also do not taste any soapiness in cilantro leaves (I even do not fully understand what kind of taste/smell is meant here). I can eat it, recently had at an Indian restaurant, forgot to ask to leave it out. But I never enjoy it :)) Thanks for shedding some light on the matter! Chemistry is an amazing science 🧬! I also do love your voice, watching Minute Earth too :)

[@maninthemoon2191]

I have a similar experience with fresh marjoram: I understand that many people use it as they would use oregano, but for me (and not only me) it has a very strong soapy smell!

[@Mchem1st]

Ok I feel SO VALIDATED. I’ve literally described cilantro for years as “tasting the way stinkbugs smell. Very stringent and green”. And I wasn’t a big cilantro fan till after I moved to and lived in TX for several years. Nobody ever understood what I meant! THANK YOU for this video😂 it’s nice to know I’m not crazy

[@JonBrase]

There's another layer to this: Many scented soaps use a cilantroish scent. To me, cilantro doesn't taste like I expect a saponified fatty acid to taste (I am not in the habit of licking soap), but it *does* taste like the floral fragrance used in many scented soaps.

[@trawrtster6097]

I agree! It’s like an overwhelming artificial “sweet” smell

[@ZeFeratu]

Interestingly, I typically adore fresh and dried cilantro, however... I once got a tube of "fresh pureed cilantro" and it tasted as though I was eating Dawn dish liquid. It wasn't just the scent. The flavor was extremely bitter, and missing all of the usual fresh notes of cilantro. It makes me wonder if the happy flavors chemically shift into the soapy aldehydes once pureed and left to set for long enough. Fascinating video. Thanks for conducting this experiment!

[@meph1570]

00:11 i thought she's gonna say "this, is stinkbug" for a second

[@trawrtster6097]

Can you do a video on celery? I think celery has something like cilantro where some people describe it as “crunchy water” (so mostly flavorless?) while others, like me, sense a strong anise-like smell that can be unpleasant. I personally think it has the flavor that’s a cross between the way scotch tape smells and anise.

[@TearfulZorua]

Whats anise? Also celery does taste like water to me, but it has a faint yet unique smell as well. I wouldn't say scotch tape like, though. Scotch tape only smells of plastic to me, and celery doesn't smell plastic-y. Its not my favorite vegetable, but its pretty good in salads and certain soups.

[@trawrtster6097]

@@TearfulZoruaAnise is a spice. If you’ve never had star anise or anise seeds, it’s kinda like the smell/flavor of licorice

[@emmett4733]

Omg yes! I was just thinking to myself that raw celery has a strong “fresh” taste and “sharp” smell that is not the same as, but does very much remind me of, cilantro. I hadn’t thought of it before as smelling like star anise, but now that you’ve said it, I definitely can detect hints of it (thankfully it doesn’t hurt my nose like anise does)!

[@starfruitiger]

Yes this...!! because celery and cilantro are cousins and for some reason i love cilantro but totally hate celery!

[@eiPderF]

I like celery, but I think I understand the scotch tape analogy. My ex hated it because it was just “crunchy water” but my husband thinks it’s too strong. It’s funny how different we all can be.

[@Gwallacec2]

My mom swears that cilantro smells like firefly’s but I love it and don’t smell it.

[@aender13]

I have never noticed a smell to fireflies, so that's an extra wrinkle

[@dynamicworlds1]

Idk what firefly's smell like and don't think I know anyone who does. o.O

[@AboBrett-dw8xn]

Fireflys don’t have a smell

[@موسى_7]

Insects don't smell, do they?

[@Gwallacec2]

@@موسى_7 if you’ve ever accidentally smashed an insect or had one die near you they absolutely smell. Firefly’s have a very distinct odor.

[@typicwhisper6569]

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time around the smell of stink bugs, and I always hated how lots of hand soaps had similar scents as them. It's cool to see that there might be an actual connection in that.

[@peterkn2]

Whenever I try to explain Durian to people, I bring up Cilantro. Some people absolutely cannot believe that Durian can smell good to some and horrible to others. I've actually been on both sides of the Cilantro divide. While I was experimenting with beef jerky recipes, I used some Cilantro seasoning (True Lime Garlic & Cilantro). It tasted fine initially but after a few batches, all the Cilantro jerky started tasting like soap; it was VERY noticeable and I was the only one who thought so. I stopped using the Cilantro seasoning immediately and Cilantro's been fine to me since. I won't experiment with that seasoning ever again, I don't want to risk it. I always figured it was like the blue dress / gold dress thing: it depends on your eyes and brain at any given time to determine what you saw. I saw either colors too at different times 😅

[@mrridikilis]

I LOVE Cilantro. The first time I tasted it, I was on an exchange in Costa Rica. I kept tasting something delicious in different dishes there and finally realized what it was.

[@bfrost7]

if you like Cilantro try and find Culantro, my mother would make a soup with Culantro and it gave her soup such a great taste.

[@azael1474]

I am a coriander lover AND a soap taster, sort of. I absolutely love coriander in tropical countries, but many times I tried to buy it from local farmers (Italy) and it was absolutely inedible, like dishsoap mixed with mosquito repeller. So I guess the growing conditions matters. Same goes for frozen coriander, disgusting. Those brown stinkbugs are also very invasive here and not once I thought they smelled nice, and I'm also very sensitive to fruits they infested (common in rasp/blackberry).

[@TheReykjavik]

My understanding (after Bio 1010 in college and not much more) is that there is a gene that causes people taste the soapiness, if you have a copy from one parent, the soapiness is fairly mild, if you have two copies, it is dramatically stronger. There is subjectivity on top of that, so if you have one copy you might be able taste the "soapy" flavor, but it might not be enough to ruin the otherwise good flavor of cilantro, or like me it might be enough to make it generally unpleasant. If you have two copies, one from each parent, you are a lot less likely to enjoy foods with cilantro. If you have no copies, you are even more likely to enjoy cilantro. Regardless, whether someone does or doesn't like a particular ingredient due to genetics or just their opinion, we have lots of great things to make food with, so with very few exceptions it is possible for anyone to find food that is delicious to enjoy.

[@bartolomeothesatyr]

I think I must be one of those with one copy of the gene, because I can detect a hint of the "soapiness" of cilantro, but it isn't overpowering and I don't mind it in food.

[@bearhustler]

As a coriander soap taster the simplest solution is just ask for your food without coriander. I kind of get fed up with the way people go on about it, it's not like they're aren't a multitude of different herbs you can enjoy instead. Coriander lovers often act like you are fussy or have something wrong with you for not wanting to eat something that tastes like soap.

[@CristiNeagu]

We should start a petition to have coriander added to the list of allergens. If gluten and dairy are on there, so should coriander.

[@adamperdue3178]

At a lot of places the server will look at me as if I just slapped their mother if I ask for food without cilantro.

[@smievil]

@@CristiNeagu dairy and some cereals are common food allergens

[@RowanJones-lp6iu]

Coriander flavoured protein you say? Bosh, I might start eating bugs.

[@jon.bo_]

little flash fried cilantro protein crunchies would be nice

[@FallenSkater1940]

These bugs are regularly eaten in Mexico and central America!

[@RowanJones-lp6iu]

Shame I can't get them easily in the UK. They do sound nice. @@FallenSkater1940

[@noob19087]

Be warned. There's a reason they're called 'stink' bugs.

[@Edited6]

As a soap taster, I was first able to really notice the best parts of cilantro in the form of that cilantro-onion-lime relish they put out for street tacos. The bottom of the container when it's been left to marinate for awhile becomes a sweet herbaceous heaven without any of the ingredients retaining their individually overwhelming "bite."

[@thejunglekitchen]

This is amazing. I live in Costa Rica, and there are a lot of different types of stink bugs here. Plus, the local cuisine uses a lot of Cilantro. I love cilantro- and I also weirdly like the smell of stink bugs. I'm not sure if they are exactly the same smell, but I can see the similarities. It's like a fragrant freshness- like cut grass.

[@michaelimhof4212]

As a cilantro hater, I never understood why others call it soapy, until I came across a soap that smelled like cilantro to me (even though it was supposed to smell like neutral soap). So I guess the added scent in my usual soaps just covers this up. The taste definitely gets closer to soap, but I dislike that less than the smell. That means I won't willingly take a bite of cilantro, but if I accidentally get some in my mouth, I can bear it, although it's still not a pleasant experience.

[@dejaphoenix]

Funny April Fool's Day video. We all know nobody really likes cilantro.

[@rafaelrivera9346]

I love cilantro, never smell like stink bug or tasted like soap. Everyone in my family also loves cilantro. I grow it at home. So I think it does have a genetic factor and a race factor. The people I know that hate cilantro tend to not look like me or come from the same background.

[@babilon6097]

Something bugs me though. Why did soap change the smell? Did we start to add coriander to it or the bugs?

[@babilon6097]

I mean "did we start adding bugs" not "did bugs start adding coriander to our soap".

[@MinuteFood]

@@babilon6097 Soap and cilantro have always had that similarity (at least to some people) - it's just that soap didn't used to be common enough that it was people's reference point for cilantro. Now that it's more common than encounters with these bugs, people have changed from calling cilantro "buglike" to "soapy"!

[@hellinahandbasket2]

I’ve always wondered what stink bugs smell like. I’ve just started seeing them here in Minnesota a few years ago and whenever I see one in the house I gingerly pick it up and flush it down the toilet, being careful not to crush it. Now I won’t be so afraid of the smell. I love cilantro. 🌿

[@aureliusfeynman485]

I'm very glad you made that video and came across this comparison. Since I was a kid, I'm passionate about insects and would catch many by hand. I always smelled the stinkbug smell from coriander, which I found odd at first but actually enjoyed in a culinary setting! I never could grasp the description people made of a soapy smell, I kind of got the idea a bit but the stinkbug smell felt like a muuuch more accurate description 😂

[@benjamincorwin8970]

One big hint I got from a cooking channel is making a crema out of the cilantro so that it is emulsified, reducing scent, and that would let you make it ahead and of time letting those enzymes work.

[@meyerjames2]

Thank you, this is a phenomenal video! I’ve always described cilantro an stink bugs as well.

[@SamuelSmithJirikiha]

This makes me feel so validated! I don't quite get the soap taste in cilantro; it always tasted more like bugs. But I do love coriander! It's a mainstay seasoning for my stews. Thank you for your research!

[@Boodlums]

The only time I ever was able to tolerate cilantro was in a rice dish from a South Indian restaurant (Dosa in San Francisco). Their cilantro was BRIGHT green (not dark like typical cilantro), it was delivered fresh from the farm 5 days a week, it was very finely minced, and evenly distributed in the dish.

[@harsha1306]

I'm Indian so as a result use coriander in my cooking a lot and love it too. But when I was in the US and tried to grow my own coriander in my hydroponics garden it shockingly had those soapy notes that I had never experienced in my life. So maybe like the lab grown stink bugs the way you grow them also has an impact on the soapiness. If it you do want to run an experiment I used the coriander seeds from a 1 lb bag of Anthony's Organic Coriander Seeds.

[@dreamingcolour]

I never associated the scents of Cilantro and Stink Bugs, but as soon as I saw the Stink Bug in your video my brain made the connection. Stink bugs are plentiful where I live and I'm quite familiar with that smell. I'm not a Cilantro fan either. Great Video.

[@mr.f613]

We have an invasive stink bug problem in my region. I spent all last summer trying to keep them off my pears. I was surprised that the “stink” was just a mild, herbal note, reminiscent of cilantro (which love and grow a lot of).

[@ScotchIrishHoundsman]

I love cilantro and never understood the soap thing until one day I was eating some low quality cilantro and tasted it myself. I’ve tasted it a couple times since then also. I have a suspicion that it’s highly dependent on the phenotype of the plant and probably the “terroir” of the location it was grown, that determine which chemical compounds are more prevalent.

[@LisaKnobel]

My mother cannot stand cilantro because it tastes like soap. I know I can definitely taste the soap sometimes. And, when I first encountered it, the soap flavor was strong. It took me a while to grow to love cilantro. Now it is one of my favorite herbs. I really think that it would be great in a cocktail sort of like a mojito, but instead of using mint & rum, use cilantro and tequila. Eventually, I will perfect this cocktail. But, I usually eat all the cilantro before I remember to try making this.

[@updownstate]

I'm a soapy cilantro eater. But here in Phoenix where Mexican food is high on the menu I've learned to shut up and eat. Since I lost some scent and taste ability to COVID it's not as strong as it used to be. Thank you for this fascinating video which explains a lot about life.

[@nonexman]

I can't help but add to the comments: For years I hated cilantro, probably because it was too pungent smelling (no soap). For a long time, a friend and I would go to a Mexican restaurant, and he would pick out the cilantro that was in the salsa. Over time, I started doing that and developed a love for cilantro as well. So, for me, it was an acquired taste. Living in Southern California (near Pasadena), our area got invaded by the stink bugs. They were EVERYWHERE!!. The only way I found to get rid of them was to take a Kleenex, fold it in quarters, grab the suckers, and dump them into a flushing toilet. If they sprayed on you, the only way I found to get the smell off was to rub the area with hand cream (oils dissolve oils) and then wash the hand cream off with lots of soap. Now, the stink bugs and cilatro relationship? I always felt that sink bugs smelled like cilantro that had gone very bad and needed to be thrown away. And that leads me to a question: if you go into your refrigerator and find a bag of old cilantro that is obviously rotting, do you salivate or do you close the bag quickly and throw it away? Inquiring minds and all that.

[@donavonyoung3108]

Thank you so much for this video! I live in Michigan and have been surrounded by these beautiful little critters my whole life and you are, maybe, the first person I've encountered willing to say how beautiful they are!!! They're 'stink' association apparently prevents people from being able to see that they're also super cute and totally harmless! Growing up, I used to think they smelled like fresh growing apples (FYI, you scarcely smell then without crushing them, it's either a smell they release when threatened, or most likely they got squashed) but in a 'bad way,' like too tart, or too green to eat, more like crabapples. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that i accidentally sucked one into a vacuum and got surprised by a cilantro incense effect that was created, in the room, that I made the connection myself. As far as the cilantro-soap things goes, the genetics are bs, taste and senses in general are not fixed in anyone's brain or body, they all develop and adapt over time. A lot of people don't seem to realize the true reality of the 'acquired taste.' One can acquire an appreciation for most any taste, given that they are willing to have the patience and open mind to developing it. I'm just rambling now, but honestly, I really appreciate this video, my only upset was when I realized that you were only going to be dealing with dead stinkbugs, cuz I like them so much as living beings. They're kind of like silly kids that can fly and don't make noise or messes. They're just so clumsy and whimsical to me. Cheers!

[@em7dim9]

When I first grew cilantro 35 years ago, I had never tasted any before due to it not being common in the rural area where I lived. I was in my garden one day and smelled a chemical odor. I thought someone had sabotaged my garden! But it was the cilantro. Smelling it up close I thought I smelled aftershave. To this day I think it smells like aftershave. I do love it though. Also, I now live in NJ which is crawling with stinkbugs, yet I have never noticed them having any smell. Weird, right?

[@bryanlee7295]

I became a coriander lover because of the potential cardiovascular benefits. Since then i have acquired a deep liking for it.

[@arkitakama7]

So I had a stinkbug infestation in my parent's place back when I lived there, and the smell I got was coconut lotion. But I like cilantro. So idk what that means, but I figured it would be an additional data point.

[@CapsAdmin]

Something related to something tasting like soap is the lavender flower. I've grown up associating lavender with being the active smell in detergents, perfume, soaps, etc which is an alright smell. But because of this I find it difficult to enjoy a lavender cookie or lavender honey. I have experienced something similar with other flowers that were associated with good smells, but eaten in other cultures.

[@grovermartin6874]

Another of life's little mysteries solved, thanks! When I first tasted cilantro, it did indeed taste like soap! Not smell like soap, just taste like soap. Then, as I was exposed to it in salsa over time, I grew to like it, a lot. Now I will sometimes eat half a bunch as I wash it. Sometimes I enjoy chewing on a handful of stems as a breath freshener. Such an interesting video. Good research!

[@DonMachado]

When I was younger, I loved mexican food, but I did not like cilantro. I eventually got used to the flavor and love it today enough to have it growing in my backyard. It would be interesting to know if I have the gene or not to see if I overcame the taste or never tasted the soapy flavor in the first place.

[@Sally4th_]

My enjoyment of foods usually flavoured with coriander leaf vastly improved when I started replacing it with flat-leaf parsley and lemon. Oh and I always described it as smelling of petrol rather than soap.

[@raquelhaggerty6492]

This was interesting. I'm one of those people who taste soap in cilantro, but I've still used it in small quantities in my cooking over the years, and somehow trained myself to LOVE cilantro in the process. I really can't pinpoint when the change occurred, it just sort of happened, and now when I use it, I REALLY pile it on. I still taste the soap, but I associate it different or something. 🤷

[@keisisqrl]

Interesting about the enzymes! I always used to hate cilantro unless it was prepared like in pico de gallo. But I lost the soapy flavor in my late 20s, now I love cilantro. Though piquant flavors generally also grew on me, so maybe that’s part of it.

[@TheCatWitch63]

I live in Central America and love cilantro. We also have stink bugs in my country, and I honestly have never thought that their terrible smell resembles cilantro in any way. Maybe we got different subspecies of stink bugs. In any case, I applaud you for your thoroughness.

[@chandlercampbell3356]

This makes so much sense! I hate fresh cilantro, it tastes like laundry detergent. But i worked at a kitchen with a cilantro mayo sauce, and it was truly delicious. Probably because it was food processed until smooth and sat for up to 2 weeks per batch

[@sumsis5051]

I’ve ALWAYS said that Cilantro tastes like stinkbugs to me but i’ve never known why, thank you for this interesting video! 🙌🏼

[@arturohcolina]

Some species of stinkbugs called Jumiles are edible in Mexico. They have a citric or herbal flavour and are used in sauces, roasted or eaten raw (sometimes even alive). Their aromatic compounds are likely related to those in other stinkbugs and cilantro.

[@tabacum2]

In Mexico you can eat both cilantro and jumiles (stink bugs). I wonder if these bugs smell differently in other regions, or if it is purely based on the person, because I have never noticed a bad smell from them and they are a popular snack.

[@Ripthejack3r]

In New Jersey there is alot of stinkbugs, strangely we have a way to get rid of them without killing them, you take a bag, PUT HAND SOAP in it(liquid usually) and the stink bugs will just jump into the bag. Thought you would find that interesting.

[@MrReally224]

Fascinating. Thank you for the video. I get the stink bug connection, but never made the association before. So, that is for that. But I have to say that the wild (not lab grown) stink bugs I have living near me would definitely not be something I’d want on my burrito. It’s a similar smell to cilantro but much stronger.

[@veewaiyawuth2063]

A kind of stinkbug is actually eaten in the northern part of Thailand. It is a seasonal delicacy. You would grind the bugs with other spices into a paste. It is eaten with sticky rice. The bug is known as แมงแคง(maeng-kaeng)

[@Netist_]

I don't like cilantro, but I've always had an issue with the way people say it tastes like soap. I don't think that's quite right. It doesn't taste like dove hand soap or anything. It's "supposed" to have a lemon or citrus flavor. And even though I don't like it, it still does. But to me, instead of tasting fresh, it tastes more like a rancid lemon, one that's been left out for a while to rot and ferment, almost like pine sol or similar lemon-scented cleaners. In that sense, it does taste like "soap" but I think just saying "soap" gives the wrong impression. It's not a *completely* different experience of the flavor.

[@aspectreishauntingeurope]

just because you don't find it soapy doesn't mean other people don't... for example to me cilantro definitely tastes like soap or even plastic / some sort of playdough believe it or not

[@Sollace]

That's very interesting! I've had a few encounters with stink bugs and the way I would always characterize it is "planty green smell", although I could see it being attached to some types of scented soaps too! (just not as strong)

[@ratoh1710]

2:59 Experience can also color how you interpret certain flavors. For example I do not like most cheeses, because I once drank a lot of milk and then became ill and fun fact the flavor profile of certain cheeses can be achieved by drinking milk and then vomiting it up