I’ve been wondering for a while now if I might have that gene or whether Cilantro is just a herb i dislike. I can stomach dishes with cilantro in them, but it just stings through everything. No matter how little was put in, it tastes to me like somebody over-cilantro’d the dish. I’ve never eaten anything where I thought “Mmmh, yes, there’s a subtle hint of cilantro” - it’s always “Oh, there’s the cilantro, and it’s just too strong”.
But whenever I read about this online, people say that it tastes like soap. It’s been a couple of years since I was toddler enough to just put soap in my mouth. But in my mind, the taste of soap is mostly bitter, with an overwhelming tropical/fruity/citrussy flavor of whatever the producers decided to make the soap smell like. I also imagine it having a really unpleasant texture/mouthfeel. I have no urge to try eating soap, just so I can compare it with the taste of a herb. And I assume that most people with the Cilantro-gene also haven’t made an actual taste-comparison. So hence my question: In what way does anything - but cilantro in particular - taste like soap?
Listen, you seem like a reasonable person and have some kind of medical-sounding username, so I will re-emphasize this: it’s a medical issue. Little kids (and even grown adults) with severe food allergies have a big struggle in getting taken seriously. I have had to take two separate people to the ER for anaphylaxis from food allergies, both seemed so minor and both turned out to have been life-threatening. One was a toddler.
You can make a small positive difference in their lives by inconveniencing yourself here.
I agree that it’s the fault of the restaurant and not yours that it’s like this, and I agree that they should be more vigilant with all allergies.
But unintended victims of crying wolf isn’t so much you or the restaurant workers, it’s allergic people who might die.
I hear you, but granting medical literacy to someone who’s already so far gone as to turn a blind eye to a nut allergy is way beyond anything my own actions or inactions will influence. You’re asking me to try to fix stupid in a society that can’t even be bothered to accept that measles = bad; or that it’s worth covering your face in the middle of a global pandemic. That kid with the nut allergy is fucked - not because some chef was desensitized by a cilantro allergy claim, but because the chef is a fucking moron who doesn’t believe in or care about food allergies.
Hell, think of it like a drill - they get to practice their allergen cross contamination prevention protocols, and if they fuck up I can give them feedback by asking for some Benadryl. Then when the nut allergy kid comes in, they’ll remember their mistake! Win win! …also cilantro allergy IS a thing. I have no idea if it relates to acetyls - that was just some plausible-sounding basis pulled out of my ass to use as ammo in the face of skepticism - but there ARE people who have anaphylactic reactions to cilantro, so again, consider my BS a drill / awareness training.
Saving lives, AND meals! Hooray!