Last month several us of got together for lunch to celebrate my aunt Arpie’s birthday. 

In front of the Chow Thai restaurant, Boca Raton, FL (L-R: Barbara, Arlene, Aunt Arpie, and Robyn. Our friend Alice took the photo.)

She chose Thai cuisine for her celebratory meal. Soup, garnished with cilantro, was the first course. What surprised me was that 4-out-of-the-5 of us adamantly insisted on no cilantro – either in the soup, or anywhere else on the luncheon plate!  The ladies started saying how the taste of cilantro simply turned them off.
 
What’s interesting to me is that the same plant produces both the leaf, which is an acquired taste, and the coriander seed which the ladies all love and use in their Dikranagerdtsi dishes.
I admit – I am a proud lover of fresh cilantro leaves! I volunteered to consume any cilantro that might have accidently made it on to their lunch plates; sadly, none did.
 

Please read on…
 

Cilantro (top); coriander seed (bottom)

“Cilantro: Love it or Hate it “

Doug caught me watching the “Barefoot Contessa” on the Food Network the other day. In one segment, Ina Gartner, the star of the show, was answering questions from her fans. A woman wrote that she absolutely hates cilantro, and wants to know what to use in place of it. Ina’s remark was that she, too, dislikes cilantro, and simply omits it when a recipe calls for it, or uses chopped parsley in its place.
 

I feel sorry for people who don’t like – or can’t eat- cilantro, aka Chinese parsley. To me it’s absolutely addictive. The first time I ever ate it was at a Mexican restaurant. I couldn’t stop eating the salsa, but wasn’t sure why. There was an ingredient in the dish I couldn’t identify, yet kept me going back for more. Once I questioned the served about the salsa’s ingredient list, I realized the taste I was craving was the cilantro.