Cilant-No

How can I make someone love cilantro?

I love Julia Child. Even had we met, even if Julia was alive and 50-ish years younger, even if we had more in common (She – worldly, French speaking, California born, educated at one of the 7 sister schools & a bit of a secret agent woman - employed by the Office of Strategic Service, the precursor to the CIA. Me - none of those things), I am not sure I could have made Julia love me. Even if romantic love would have been a stretch, with my passion for unfussy, vegetable-centric meals, I am not sure I could have won her over in the place that matters the most – the kitchen.

Cilantro might be the most commonly used fresh herb in the world but Julia Child did not like it. She picked the herb, also known as Chinese Parsley, along with arugula as two foods she did not like and would not eat. She went as far as telling Larry King in 2002, that cilantro tasted “dead” to her and if somehow it landed on her plate she “would pick it out...and throw it on the floor”. A breach of table etiquette I’m guessing she picked up somewhere other than Smith.

Ms. Child was not alone, there is a whole online community - because that is where communities are happening these days – dedicated to some serious cilantro-loathing. Called I hate cilantro dot com, members and visitors compare the taste of cilantro to latex, dishwashing detergent, musty basement, ear wax, damp socks, wet underwear, dandelions, rotten eggs and doll hair, among other things.

Most often cilantro is unfavorably compared to soap. On Food and Cooking singles out the offending agent as a fatty aldehyde called, decenal. Decenal has a waxy/bitter orange flavor. According to Fenaroli's Handbook of Flavor Ingredients, the compound can be detected at about 1 part per billion - it is mighty powerful stuff.

Back to the question at hand, how can you make someone love cilantro? You can’t, but you might be able to mitigate someone’s, maybe even that special someone’s negative reaction to it.

First, rinse. Well more than rinse – submerge the leaves in ice-cold water and then wring them out. Not in a salad spinner, but in your hands - squeeze until the cilantro seems to bleed green. This helps wash out some of that trademark cilantro taste.

Next, heat it. Most cilantro is served fresh - think spring roll or fresh salsa. Even in hot foods, the taste of cilantro comes not from cooking with it, but adding a few fresh leaves as a garnish. Decenal is heat sensitive, so cooking cilantro will send some of the offending aromas into thin air.

Finally, buy fresh, use the same day. Exposure to oxygen causes foods to go bad - fatty acids, such a decenal, are especially sensitive to oxidation. For the freshest cilantro, grow some in a pot or garden so you can pick and use at will. Not really a gardener myself or really outdoorsy at all*, I would go with a farmers market or an ethnic market for the freshest cilantro available.

While you might not be able to inspire your love of cilantro in someone else, all is not lost. The fact someone loves you, if not cilantro. Because you are in their life, they are going to do things they would never choose to do themselves (Oh, the movies I have seen). To me, having someone occasionally share a dish with cilantro in it because you enjoy it is much more powerful than getting someone to love cilantro.





*There is some debate on whether reading a book outside counts as an outdoor activity.