Yes, we all know, there’s a gene that makes coriander taste like soap for a bunch of the population (although some research has questioned just how much this plays a part). It is impossible not to know. Everyone you know who doesn’t like coriander has told you a million times. This innocuous herb, central to South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Mexican food, is much maligned by the highly vocal group of people who were cursed from birth to not enjoy it. If there is a war over coriander’s place in food, it appears the coriander-haters are winning, which Mexican fast-food chain Guzman y Gomez announcing that they’re taking it out of their rice. From their Facebook:
Everyone knows someone who doesn’t like coriander! GYG have done them a favour and taken coriander out of our rice. GYG for everyone! Tell ALL the people you know who aren’t fans of coriander!
You can still get coriander from our salsa station which is prepared fresh DAILY!
Admittedly, if you couch this decision in the language of inclusivity, it makes you sound like an asshole to argue that it’s a terrible idea, BUT, I urge you to consider just how difficult it is to get an even distribution of coriander on your burrito once it has already been assembled and you are trying to add it after the fact.
Could they not simply have two different preparations of rice? Could we not simply release some sort of nanovirus into the food that reprograms people’s DNA and erases the gene that gives them their unholy aversion to coriander? It seems like there were so many solutions to this we could have explored without arriving at plain rice.
A quick survey of the comments on their post reveals a relatively even mix of people who are overwhelmed with joy at the news and people who have just had their heart ripped out of their anuses:
Bold move, burritomongers.
