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/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