Because in most of the US if you went to a butcher shop or a supermarket and asked for brains everyone around you would assume you were a zombie and start screaming for the National Guard to come out and save them before everything went full scale "Dawn of the Dead".
Make offal more popular in the USA
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About 40 percent of the US Population (including myself) find Cilantro to taste exactly like say eating a bar of soap. It's supposedly genetic.Well, McD's already puts out the McRib every year, and nobody really knows what's in that, soooo...
I remember a few years back, Taco Bell tried to be a little innovative and a tad more "authentic" with the "Cantina menu"... they had soft-shell tacos, with real meat (chicken or beef, and not that beef-paste-whatever-it-is that they typically use), with cilantro and onion and some specialty sauces... they were actually pretty good...
It didn't last very long... apparently most Americans thought it "tasted weird" 🙄
If Taco Hell were to try tacos with lengua or tripe, hell, I'd try it... but I doubt most of mah fellow Amer'cans are quite that adventurous... yet...
So yeah when nearly half of your potential customers find your taco's with Cilantro to taste exactly the same as if you'd just taken the same taco and instead of Cilantro had just doused it in some old fashioned liquid hand soap it will take a bite out of your sales.
I like a lot of Mexican food but literally any meal containing Cilantro for me is completely and totally disgusting and unbearable. I get that for a large chunk of the populace it might be delicious. But for me and a lot of other people it's just utterly disgusting to the point where actually being forced to eat it is utterly miserable and borderline nauseating depending how much they put in. A few times when people have prepared a meal containing a lot of it and I've politely eaten it I generally spend hours being a hair from vomiting.
Nothing against those who like it but like I said for about 40 percent of the country it's automatically going to taste god awful.
I had heard the "tastes like soap" thing before, but I had no idea it was as high as 40%... that's really strange. I think you may be the 1st person I've ever actually heard from directly, that they had that extreme a reaction to it... I have known a couple people that said they didn't care for the flavour, but didn't say it was bacause it tasted like soap...
That's what I've heard. It's some sort of genetic marker. For part of the populace Cilantro apparently tastes like well something a human being would want to eat. For a very large chunk of the US populace it automatically tastes like soap to some degree.
From what I understand the Soap thing is pretty much automatic for those who don't like it.
So yeah for say a major fast food place if a pretty major part of your normal customer base orders one of your tacos (say those who have never actually had cilantro before) and take a bite and assume that the guy who made it was making a cruel prank and drizzled some soap in the meal they paid for it'll cause problems. And if 40 percent of your customer base is automatically not going to order that entree no matter what it's going to cause problems for you.
It’s more like 10%, with the number ranging as high as 20% in some ethnicities (East Asians are the highest IIRC).
I’m also one of them though, the cilantro =soap I mean. (Also I HATE onions, it’s one of the few foods that makes me physically gag when I try to eat them). That’s still a pretty high proportion of your customer base though.
I’m also one of them though, the cilantro =soap I mean. (Also I HATE onions, it’s one of the few foods that makes me physically gag when I try to eat them). That’s still a pretty high proportion of your customer base though.
Though I admit that it is a pretty odd thing. To think that somehow there is a genetic marker that half the US would have that would mean that a herb that the other half can taste and find utterly delicious for that first half would taste like Soap.
And I'm not exaggerating that it tastes exactly like soap. I have accidentally consumed small amounts of soap (generally when I'm preparing/heating a meal and washing my hands at the same time and accidentally drizzle a small amount on what I intended to eat). The taste is startlingly identical. I can take a Taco from a restaurant and food truck and if it doesn't have cilantro find it utterly delicious. If it has Cilantro on it it's exactly the same as if they'd just grabbed a bottle of soap and squeezed a generous portion on top of that taco instead. Makes going to more "authentic" Mexican restaurants and Food trucks difficult. If the person I'm ordering from is say a more recent immigrant and doesn't speak much English (which I understand completely. Immigrating to another country isn't easy and learning English is from what I understand really really difficult especially for adults.) explaining that I'd like my meal without Cilantro can be quite difficult. Partially I suspect for them that they and most folks they know find it delicious and just can't comprehend the idea of ordering the meal without it. Sort of like talking to someone from a culture that's very very meat focused and explaining you'd like a vegan meal. But ordering a Burrito or Taco and finding that it has cilantro on it is just fucking awful. I gag and I can't eat it. And I can't really go back and explain that I can't eat what they serve (I unfortunately don't speak Spanish.)
Basically imagine going to a restaurant and trying to order and knowing there is a good chance that no matter how much you try to explain they'll still say drizzle soap over the meal before serving it.
Huh. I thought it was higher. Is that for the US or world? I mean every person I've met who had the same experience was White. I've known quite a number of people who either immigrated from East Asia or descended from those who did and have them express that they had the same experience.
I do wonder why it tastes like Soap of all things. Is their some ingredient in soap that's chemically similar to something in Cilantro?
The genetic variance let’s you detect aldehydes in cilantro, which are chemicals used in a variety of soaps, perfumes, and big sprays. They’re not toxic or anything, but if you can taste them then it’s going to taste like soap.
Also white people are around 17% apparently.
Hmm... if you Google it there's a few things that come up, one recurring one being heightened olfactory receivers that enable some people to pick up on the high level of aldehydes - compounds also found in soap - in cilantro...
Which sort of makes sense, as I've never had a very acute sense of smell and I love cilantro...
Chicken hearts roasted with cumin, chillis and sichuan peppercorns.... *drools*
Hmm, bug sprays....
I wonder if lemongrass has high aldehyde levels... I've known a few people who were very averse to the taste of lemongrass as well... Fortunately i'm not one of 'em...
I'm not sure I have for sure but I think I might have had the same effect.
Roast damn near anything in that combination and I'll eat it
When I was in college I had a favourite Thai restaurant I frequented... they started calling me "Mister Four Star" due to my preference for the hotter and spicier end of the spectrum
Yep I know there not toxic. With me in the cases I mentioned it was more that so much was used and the taste was so foul. I'd seriously rather eat a K ration that expired during the Korean War then eat a dish with a bunch of Cilantro.
I suppose it's better to eat something that tastes like nothing, than to eat something that one finds repulsive
In all fairness though, I did get some rations from a relative of my ex-wife once, and I will say they were edible... the tiny little bottle of Tabasco sauce helped with that
... In contrast to the last tray of airline food I had, which was about as pleasurable as eating roast cardboard Yeah I don't like cilantro or lemongrass. Though the former I dislike more than the latter. (I'm of European descent btw)
Yeah I kind of figured that from the "Hrvats" part of your username
I had a Czech friend who had a big aversion to ginger... he was also a bit afraid of foods too hot/spicy until my ex-wife and I introduced him to buffalo wings at a local place... then he ate like 24 of 'em, sweating profusely and crying a little the whole time
The copious amounts of draught beer helped though...
I suppose it's better to eat something that tastes like nothing, than to eat something that one finds repulsive
In all fairness though, I did get some rations from a relative of my ex-wife once, and I will say they were edible... the tiny little bottle of Tabasco sauce helped with that
Was that in the 1980s? I mean as long as I can remember you got like a tiny bag of peanuts or maybe paid like twenty bucks for a mediocre sandwich and half a 12 ounce can of Coke.
Well MRE's are a lot less bad then say WW2 rations. MRE's I've had a few times and sometimes they're surprisingly not bad. Not good but not that terrible. Though I could see why servicemen who eat them cold for like two weeks straight would despise them. I've heard that in such cases they can also cause tremendous problems with bathroom functions. To the extent that say going three days without doing your business is normal. Which might very well be intentional.
Big fan of SteveMRE1989. Really awesome reviews and such a kick ass way of presenting. Really want to try the French or Italian rations some day. A few of the standard Italian rations still actually contain booze. Namely a couple of the Breakfast ones include a little like two ounce bottle of a Cordial Waters standard. So yeah getting a ration with a free shot of like 30% alch content booze would be a nice treat for someone in the field. A lot of old US and other emergency Medical/suvival kits would contain amphetamine tablets as standard. Which I've seen Steve buy a few such old survival kits complete with Meth tablets on E Bay. The Brazilian Navy rations also contain a really cool little stove. A lot of countries rations have standard semi disposable little folding metal stoves with solid Esbit fuel tablets. But the Brazilian rations have a cool squeeze bottle of semi liquid alcohol fuel (sort of like a hand sanitizer that's fuel).
During the Gulf War there was apparently a semi standard trading system among Coalition Troops. Twenty US MRE's was worth one French Ration or like three of the French Rations were worth a US Cot (which was apparently better then the French bedding). Reminds me of how in Germany for a couple years post WW2 the standard currency wasn't actual money but instead American Cigarettes. Like it was standard for say laborers or farm hands or factory workers to receive wages of packs of US Camels/Marlboro's/Chesterfields and such. French Riot cops for some reason had rations that contained can's of fortified wine into the 1980s. Like giving your Riot cops a bottle of MD 20/20 with their meals. Because nothing helps more in a Riot then slightly drunk Riot Cops.
I really recommend Steve 1989MRE. He's got a really soothing Bob Ross type voice and he reviews the rations like their meals from five star restaurants instead of canned crap that was considered terrible when it was new during the Korean or Vietnam War and have been expired longer then the guy eating them has been alive.
Steve1989MREInfo
MRE & Ration Reviews from 1863-current! This is Steve1989 longtime Ration Nut off MREinfo's forums - I'll eat just about anything! Provided it passes a reaso...
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One of the rations in those videos that he eat's is from fucking 1906. He's eating stuff that expired during WW1.
Another really funny thing is that a lot of old Life boat emergency rations from like the 1940s to late 1960s (for say sailors who's ship sank to survive on till rescue) consisted of like two pounds of hard candy and three cartons of Cigarettes. That would be designed for like 4 sailors to survive three days. Because of course the best thing to give shipwrecked sailors without much water is like a carton of cigarettes a piece.
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Yeah I kind of figured that from the "Hrvats" part of your username
I had a Czech friend who had a big aversion to ginger... he was also a bit afraid of foods too hot/spicy until my ex-wife and I introduced him to buffalo wings at a local place... then he ate like 24 of 'em, sweating profusely and crying a little the whole time
The copious amounts of draught beer helped though...
I get liking spicy food but I don't get it when people eat food that's so damned spicy it's obviously not pleasurable. Like when people eat meals made with peppers with so much Capscasine that they're essentially solid fucking pepper spray and are obviously in horrible pain and sweating profusely but they still go out of their way to eat it. Not like normal spicy but Ghost pepper spicy.
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