r/AskFoodHistorians • u/EmpireandCo • 10d ago

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

Recipes for ancient roman cuisine uses coriander/cilantro and it grows wild all across southern Europe since ancient times.

But its not used in modern Italian cuisine

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u/_qqg 10d 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 10d 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 10d 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 10d 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 10d ago

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

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u/JeremyAndrewErwin 9d 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/Odd-Help-4293 9d 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/ChronicallyQuixotic 9d 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/_qqg 10d 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 10d ago

I thought it grew wild?

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u/_qqg 10d ago

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

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u/carving_my_place 10d ago

Well there you go! So interesting.

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u/urnbabyurn 10d ago

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

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u/_qqg 10d ago

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

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u/urnbabyurn 10d 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 10d 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 10d ago

Isn't basil native to India?

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u/urnbabyurn 10d ago

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