Every year, February 24 is the Global Coriander Aversion Day, and for some, it is undoubtedly a day to rejoice. You don't need to blame yourself for the aversion to coriander, because it is in your genes.
The official Chinese name for coriander is coriander and its genus name coriandrum is derived from the ancient Greek koris meaning bed bug. This means that the Greeks who first named coriander may not have felt its aroma.
Studies have shown that coriander leaves contain a variety of compounds, of which aldehydes account for 82%, such as trans-2-decenal. These aldehyde compounds make up the bulk of the strong smell of coriander. Since some people are naturally sensitive to aldehydes, they will feel that coriander exudes a smell similar to that of "stinky big sister".
Canadian researchers conducted a survey of 1,639 young people, and the results showed that East Asians had the highest rate of hating coriander.
In 2012, researchers conducted a study involving 14,604 people who were averse to cilantro and 11,851 people who liked cilantro. They found that people who were averse to coriander had a piece of olfactory receptor gene called OR642 on chromosome 11, which made them more sensitive to aldehydes and easier to sniff out the "bed bug smell" in coriander. If the nucleotide base pair of RS72921001 in this gene is A, it will not hate eating coriander, otherwise it is likely to be averse to eating coriander.
So if you don't like to eat coriander, there is now a scientific basis to get rid of the accusation of being a "picky eater": it's genetically determined! Born like this, irresistible!