A message to those who love coriander from those who don't...

I sat, once again, for hours today, sorting out the orchestral parts for the 100 Faces project.

I had the telly on in the background. Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meal seemed to be on a continual loop at one point. In every episode, he used the term “clank it off” at least twice. I’ve not heard this term before, and it sounds vaguely rude out of context, but I think it refers to chopping food in a sort of willy-nilly, “rustic” way.

Sadly, he spent quite some time in one episode clanking off a load of coriander, which freaked me out. I have a serious problem with coriander. There are other food stuffs, like rocket, for example, which I don’t like very much, but coriander actually makes me ill...

...And I’m not the only one. My friends Julie and Tash hate it, as does my mother. And Stephen Fry. I discovered a wonderful website today called www.ihatecilantro.com where people, encouraged to talk about the minging taste of the herb, have even taken to writing haikus:

I hate cilantro
but my girlfriend loves that shit
so unfortunate.

devastating herb,
my spicy tuna maki
did not deserve this

Hated, vile, foul herb;
One mere leaf destroys the meal.
Oh, to be tongueless!

Why ruin salsa?
Mexican food was once great.
Today, not so much.

I hate cilantro;
It tastes like a slum sewer
And smells like one, too.

Other people, asked to describe the taste, have used words like, “wet hair with cheap shampoo lathered in” “grass flavoured snow cone with rusted iron sprinkles” “pungent foul weeds” “soapy pennies” and “blood.” To me, it genuinely tastes like blood.

And apparently there are toxins in it which only some people can taste. And this is therefore a call to coriander lovers across the planet. No matter how much you adore the stuff and want to share it's wonderful properties with the world, if you knew how horrible it tastes to some people, and how  terribly ill it makes people feel, you’d ask guests before serving it up at dinner parties and restaurants!