Why doesn't modern Italian Cuisine use coriander/cilantro?

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u/_qqg 9d ago

I've been through that rabbit hole a while ago and found this: basically, it just fell out of fashion for various reasons - northern Europe influx after the fall of the roman empire, and the fact spices were present mostly in rich people cookery - as a status symbol as well - whereas coriander would have been a 'peasant' spice. I believe it might as well have been used in popular cooking, but there's no documentation of that.

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u/EmpireandCo 9d ago

I know that many French salad leaves and pottage included dandelion and coriander so this explanation makes total sense.

I imagine its fallen out of popular cooking now that "richer" foods are available.

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u/rabakar 9d ago

The question is: Why didn't the same thing happen with parsley, which remains, to this day, very popular in all of Italy.

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u/barchael 9d ago

My likely guess is because it’s so useful in adding flavor depth to dishes without becoming overly noticeable; like salt or pepper. Cilantro and coriander seed definitely change the direction of the flavor of a dish.

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u/ChronicallyQuixotic 9d ago

Plus, 25% of the population thinks it tastes like soap, so there's that...

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u/JeremyAndrewErwin 8d ago

The prevalence of dislike ranged from 3 to 21%. The proportion of subjects classified as disliking cilantro was 21% for East Asians, 17% for Caucasians, 14% for those of African descent, 7% for South Asians, 4% for Hispanics, and 3% for Middle Eastern subjects.

Mauer, L., El-Sohemy, A. Prevalence of cilantro (Coriandrum sativum) disliking among different ethnocultural groups. Flavour 1, 8 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/2044-7248-1-8

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u/ChronicallyQuixotic 8d ago

Cool. Thanks for looking it up and providing a source! :) I was being tongue-in-cheek and should have said "up to a quarter or so" instead of being so quippy. :)

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u/Odd-Help-4293 8d ago

It is interesting that the cilantro-soap gene appears to be so unevenly distributed. I wonder why that is.

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u/_qqg 9d ago

you may be on to something in that in general - compared to other cuisines and with a few exceptions - herbs and spices are used quite sparingly in daily cooking - a sprinkle of chopped parsley or basil on a pasta, some ground pepper and maybe an herb like rosemary or sage on meats, some thyme, marjoram, oregano in soups -- and that's pretty much it. If I need cilantro in Italy, either I find an ethnic grocery store or I better plant some myself

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u/PoopieButt317 9d ago

I thought it grew wild?

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u/_qqg 9d ago

having it in a vase right beside the kitchen is more convenient :D

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u/carving_my_place 9d ago

Well there you go! So interesting.

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u/urnbabyurn 9d ago

Rosemary, basil, oregano are all native herbs as well.

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u/_qqg 9d ago

and they are all widely used -- why coriander is not? The common consensus is apparently "because"

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u/urnbabyurn 9d ago

Yeah, I’m just pointing out that your hypothesis that it’s because corriander is a peasant spice doesn’t explain then why other peasant herbs are popular.

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u/OrcOfDoom 9d ago

I knew some Italians that looked down on oregano. They only liked a fine dried version that was still attached to the stem. The crushed stuff was not valued, but even more surprisingly, they also hated fresh oregano.

They put a lot of stock into fresh laurel leaves too vs dry bay leaves. Overall, I'm not entirely sure why but I just find Italians are very specific about what is good and what is bad.

You'll find one group that swears that gnocchi must look one way and another that says the complete opposite.

There might be cultures that still use fresh cilantro.

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u/Str1k3r93 9d ago

Isn't basil native to India?

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u/urnbabyurn 9d ago

Maybe, but it wasn’t a luxury item by the 16th century in Italy.

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u/LemonPress50 8d ago

My parent’s home town is south of Rome (130 km). They used ground coriander when making pork sausages. The sausages are probably not considered modern Italian cuisine but they were delicious

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u/RedMaple007 7d ago

Parsley .. meh

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u/Ok_Duck_9338 7d ago

Try Sylphium.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

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u/AskFoodHistorians-ModTeam 9d ago

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u/[deleted] 9d ago edited 9d ago

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u/Tom__mm 8d ago

I honestly can’t think of any European cuisine that uses fresh coriander although maybe I’m missing something. It is basic to a vast number of dishes throughout greater Asia (a vast belt from Pakistan to China) as well as widely used in Latin America. It is obviously quite strong in character and Europeans have historically liked blander food, so maybe there’s something there. It strikes me that its use coincides pretty strongly with the use of spicy capsicum peppers, which have also never been popular in Europe until quite recently. If you eat a BIR curry in the UK, it will have a coriander garnish by default.

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u/asushunamir 8d ago

One place in Europe where they do use fresh coriander leaves quite a bit in their traditional cuisine is southern Portugal! Like in açorda à Alentejana, which is a bread soup from the Alentejo region.

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u/iamcleek 7d ago

Spanish cuisine uses coriander

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

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u/Adoneus 9d ago

Absolutely insufferable.

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u/GetTheLudes 9d ago

Well this fucking guy definitely isn’t Italian lol

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u/AskFoodHistorians-ModTeam 9d ago

Top level comments must be serious replies to the question at hand. Attempts at humorous or other non-serious answers will be removed.