I was in the shower earlier (don’t worry – I promise this is a family-friendly story) and noticed a label on some shower scrub that I’d never read before.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was listing some ingredients, and one thing caught my eye. It contained “coriander, for happiness”.
I had to have a bit of a laugh over that one. Coriander is notorious for making quite a lot of people anything but happy. Some people hate coriander so much that there are entire websites and Facebook pages dedicated to dissing it.
But why do some people hate coriander so much, while others think it’s the bees knees?
You might have heard that your love (or hate) of coriander is in your genes. Which is true, to some extent, but that’s not the whole story.
To a lot of people, coriander tastes like soap. Interestingly the soapy “taste” that some people perceive isn’t actually due to the taste of coriander at all. It’s to do with how coriander smells.
...it’s possible that you could learn to love coriander, if you just give it a chance.
Coriander contains chemicals called aldehydes. Different aldehydes have different smells. For example, one aldehyde called vanillin is responsible for the smell of vanilla bean. Another one called cinnamaldehyde is responsible for, you guessed it, the smell of cinnamon.
Some of the aldehydes found in coriander are the same as those found in detergents and soaps, and we recognise them as smelling, well, soapy.
The aldehydes in foods like cinnamon and coriander are detected by our olfactory, or smell receptors. These receptors are proteins, and like all proteins, they’re made using the instructions found in our genes. When studying why people love or hate coriander, scientists have found that a particular gene could be responsible.
The gene is called OR6A2, and it instructs our cells to make a specific olfactory receptor that is key for recognising the aldehydes in coriander. Tiny changes within this gene also cause the receptor to change ever so slightly, making it more or less sensitive to these aldehydes.
Some people have versions of the gene that allows them to detect these chemicals and be overwhelmed by the soapy smell. And since our senses of smell and taste are so connected, they’ll tell you that coriander tastes like soap.
Other people have versions of the gene that create less sensitive receptors, allowing them to enjoy coriander without the soapy side-effects.
But, as I said earlier, your genes don’t tell the whole story. Other studies investigating why people like or dislike coriander have found that it can be linked to your amount of exposure.
In areas of the world where coriander is used commonly in cooking, there are fewer people who dislike it. In places where coriander is more rare, there are more people who hate it.
The hatred that many people have for coriander could just be because they didn’t grow up eating it.
So if you’re a coriander hater, it could be in your genes. But it’s also possible that you could learn to love coriander, if you just give it a chance.
Read more Science Matters:
