this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2026
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I guess I won the brain damage lottery because cilantro no longer tastes soapy to me
Damn, the first time I had it, it made chocolate taste like soap for months. Probably better for my diet.
Unfortunately, ever since the second or third time, raw carrots all taste like soap. I used to eat carrots with half my lunches, and now I can't stomach them.
Ah damnit, I got the version that makes my soap taste all cilantro'y.
Bone apple tea!
I'm pretty sure I've never regained my sense of smell. My 2 year old will poop and I typically can't tell unless I visually confirm because he's walking weird... I also can't tell if something in our fridge has spoiled.
My wife uses my dulled sense of smell as a litmus test. If I can actually smell something it must mean it's horrifically rancid...
Same here, although it was so gradual it took me years to notice. Also I can smell some things even if they're relatively subtle, but only for a second or two. Then nothing at all.
I know that human sense of smell gets used to constant sensation and ignores it. Apparently, mine just does it super quickly. I learned to trust my instincts, because usually the ability to smell something goes away before I notice it consciously and I can't just smell it again.
Wow, that’s pretty crazy
Idk if it was the Covid but when i made my homemade tacos with cilantro it was amazing but before that every time it tasted like soap
A lot of people have changes in their sense of smell after contracting covid. It will be interesting to see if the “soap” taste comes back to you eventually.
https://healthcare.utah.edu/healthfeed/2022/09/change-smell-after-covid-19-infection-what-you-need-know
https://www.ama-assn.org/about/publications-newsletters/loss-smell-post-covid-how-severe-it-and-how-long-can-it-last
Yes I have bad nose blindness. I get hints of things then it goes away.
Cilantro tasted like soap to me before 2011, after that it was delicious. Not necessarily covid that caused your change, cant explain mine except that I was eating a lot of it in delicious meals so who knows
It is amazing stuff. Ties the flavor bouquet of Thai food together.
It really is, I've been making up for the many years I missed out. Mexican and Thai are my go-tos for heavy use
Hell yeah, cilantro is the shit!
Fuck, I wish I got that instead of having my narcolepsy go from extremely mild to extremely severe.
I wish I got that.
I have no idea whether I have that or not because I've never tasted soap for comparison. Cilantro has... A flavor for me, certainly, but I have no idea if it's the right one.
I mean. You don't have to wonder forever... 🍴🧼
You never cursed as a child and had to wash your mouth with soap?
Oh, I've cursed all right. But do you mean to tell me your parents made you put soap in your mouth?
It was a somewhat common punishment for swearing or talking back to your parents in the US a few decades ago. You can probably see it shown in American cartoons from the 90s and 00s.
Some parents did back then. I think it's a 90s thing.
Earlier
I've never gotten a soapy taste from it either, but I definitely have the gene that makes it taste horrid.
For me, the taste of cilantro is the exact same profile as the smell of stink bugs. So... Anything with even a tiny bit of cilantro in it tastes like it's filled with ground up beetles.
But not soap. Tbh I think soap would be an improvement.
...I'm super jealous of folks who don't have the gene - what they describe it tasting like sounds fucking amazing.