About

Years ago, my parents had a garden. While focused on vegetables and some fruits, there were a few patches with basil, mint, and cilantro. When I visited, I would cut and pack bags of cilantro for my friends. 

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Cilantro brings most of the people in my life some joy. 

For me, unfortunately, it tastes something like soap.

 

If cilantro is in a dish, I have the near certainty that I won't enjoy it. Because its not just that cilantro tastes like soap to me, it makes everything else in the dish taste like soap too.

 

But that’s okay, my issue is not with cilantro, or any other ingredient. 

 

My issue is with being surprised.  

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There are wonderful flavors and combinations out there, not all of them work for everybody. I don't want to make anyone change a recipe, I just want to know before I order.

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This project was inspired by a single meal, though really by a single dish. 

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There was a restaurant, that will not be named (this is not a name and shame project), with a dish that was too hard to resist. Reviews made the rounds in London, though as I would find out, both the reviews and the menu failed to mention something: the dish had cilantro cooked into it.

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There was no notice on the menu, nor was cilantro even a common ingredient for the cuisine. No way to remove it, since picking it out only let me know how deep the taste went. I don't necessarily want them to remove it, since that wouldn't be true to the dish as the chef had intended. I just wish I had known before ordering.

 

The burden should not fall on the diner to ask every time about the dish. Whether its spicy or not, hot or cold, with cilantro or parsley or not.

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Everyone wants to order what will bring them some joy. 

It's an act of hospitality to help people know, before they order. 

This project is intended to be a small part of making that joy easier.​

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Hope your next meal is a good one.

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Josh Entsminger

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