People celebrating international ‘I Hate Coriander’ day brand it the ‘devil herb’ after it emerged it tastes like SOAP for up to fourteen per cent of the nation who share a certain gene
- Sceptics have united today to celebrated ‘International I Hate Coriander Day’
- Facebook page ‘I Hate Coriander’ shared a picture with today’s date and asked its 270 thousand followers how they would be marking the day
- Scientists believe that coriander tastes like soap for some people due to a gene
It plays a key role in many salads, salsas and chicken currys, but coriander has emerged as one of Britain’s most hated herbs.
Sceptics united today to celebrate ‘International I Hate Coriander Day’, which was started by Austrian Facebook page three years ago, and continues to thrive – with thousands of people participating in the day of disgust.
Scientists believe that coriander tastes like soap for around four to fourteen per cent of people due to a certain gene.
Taking to Facebook today, the page ‘I Hate Coriander’ shared a picture with today’s date, and asked its 270 thousand followers how they would be marking the day.
Sceptics have united today to celebrated ‘International I Hate Coriander Day’, which was started by Austrian Facebook page three years ago, and continues to thrive with thousands of people participating in the day of disgust.
And followers were out in full force today as they shared their distaste for the spice.
‘I’ll celebrate ‘I hate Coriander Day’ today and every day!’, one user wrote.
Another added: ‘I hate coriander year’ is the thing I celebrate’.
A third commented: ‘I am celebrating by not having coriander. In fact, this holiday is such a good idea that I’m going to celebrate it again tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that.’
Taking to Facebook today, the page ‘I Hate Coriander’ shared a picture with today’s date and asked its 270 thousand followers how they would be marking the day.
A fourth joked: ‘One of the most important celebrations of the year!’
The green herb, which is called cilantro in some countries was described to taste like soap by all people who shared a gene called OR6A2, in a study of 50,000 people by 23andMe.
They said at the time: ‘When we compared the DNA of the cilantro haters to the DNA of the cilantro lovers, we found a SNP, or genetic variation, called rs72921001 to be associated with the trait in a subset of about 25,000 people with European ancestry.
‘It shouldn’t be surprising that this SNP is located near eight genes that code for olfactory receptors, biological sensors that detect chemicals in the air and in food.
‘Although this finding provides evidence that genetic variation in olfactory receptors is involved in cilantro taste perception, common genetic variants explain only a very small part of the difference — a half percent — between 23andMe customers for this trait.’
Around half of Europeans have two copies of Or6A2 on their chromosomes, but only 15 per cent of these say coriander tastes like soap.
Scientists believe that coriander tastes like soap for around four to fourteen per cent of people due to a certain gene. And those haters were out in full force today as they shared their distaste for the spice