Cilantro: the second most controversial herb on the planet

I hope you can all assume what the first is. I'll give you a clue. It rhymes with farijuana.

In any case, my lovely friend Allison sent me a fantastic article today about the communal hatred of my least favorite herb, cilantro. This article pretty much sums up everything you need to know about why some people hate cilantro. But I thought I would put my two sense in.

Ever since I was old enough to distinguish certain elements of taste in food, I've hated cilantro. It's just gross. When I scan a menu at a restaurant, I avoid anything that lists "cilantro" in it. If it's something I really want, and the cilantro is the only thing holding me back, I lie and tell the waiter I'm allergic so they won't put it in. When I go to CPK and order my favorite, Chopped BBQ Chicken Salad, I always say "NO CILANTRO!" and they usually get it right. Fortunately, I've never had an incident where I have had to throw my burrito across the room.

Truthfully, I can stand it if it's in something like pica de galla, I just won't eat too much of it. What I hate, is when it's sprinkled on top of my meal in some sort of effort to make it taste more "fresh." WTF? Just squirt some lime on that sucker.

My family loves cilantro. But they have been very understanding of the fact that I loath it. When we had family style fajita dinners, my mom would always put the cilantro in a little bowl on the side. My maternal grandmother also hates cilantro, which proves that it is genetics, and it is something we can't control. So next time someone says "is there cilantro in that?" don't look at us like we have five heads. Just be honest so we don't end up yacking your precious dinner all over the linoleum floor.