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Comment by aschla | Hacker News Reader

"Within the expansive Apiaceae family are some of the tastiest ... food plants in the world: ..., celery..."

Hmm, we have different tastes.

Celery is one of the main vegetables in mirepoix (an essential part of French and French-influenced cooking), soffritto (an essential part of Italian cooking used for most sauces), and is also used in many soups, stocks, and stews. I think you like it a lot more than you realize; you're just only thinking of eating it whole, raw.

Right, it's an "aromatic," and many dishes wouldn't taste right without it. Or, if you only ever eat dishes that don't call for it, I feel sorry for you.

Yet, all dishes taste bad with it.

Do you like soup? Most European soups taste better with some sautéed celery in them. (Or taste worse if the cook neglects their celery.)

Of course I'm assuming you are getting decent, flavorful celery, not water-logged cardstock.

To me, all dishes with celery taste worse. I can't stand the flavor or smell of it. When I'm cooking, I always omit it. I'm not a picky eater otherwise.

Even raw it can be lovely, very finely diced into something like egg or chicken salad. It adds a bit of savory crunch, a lightness and some of that aromatic zip.

Finely diced pickle can do the same thing though, for people who really hate celery.

Perhaps there is a generic situation at play? Cilantro to me tastes like soap, and celery to me tastes like grass mixed with paint thinner. I can't tolerate it in any form.

But I love to cook and adore every other vegetable. Just celery and cilantro are abhorrent to my palate.

Hey fellow cilantro-sufferer, I also have that reaction to it. I love so much of the food it's in though, and cooks often struggle to understand that it isn't pickiness, it's vile to me. I... also find large amounts of raw celery to be unpleasant, although I like it well chopped into a rich mayo-based salad. Still you can barely taste in in there.

I think you might be on to something.

Well, carrot, celery, and cilantro (coriander) all share a common ancestor and it's not too fanciful to suppose that they might contain the same compounds that trigger people who have the aldehyde-detecting gene (ORA62) that is responsible for the dislike of cilantro.

There was a study written up here where the authors sequenced the cilantro genome and compared it to other plants, if you want to go down this rabbit hole.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7206992/

I love a good rabbit hole, and I didn't know about the common ancestry. Thanks!

Wow! Well this explains why carrot tastes like soap to me too, but no one ever talks about soapy carrot flavor!

Damn, i feel for you not ever knowwing how truly amazing cilantro is.

This is pretty common, I can taste even very small amounts as a soapy flavor. I think it’s genetic, a chef I met once said they take a test for it in school so they know for sure but if you have it there’s really no doubt. Fwiw celery tastes good to me so they are probably unrelated phenomena.

I'll eat it in specific contexts: chinichurri and salsa verde, which have sufficient garlic to mask the taste. But I do feel a bit wistful that I can't truly enjoy it.

For me it's cruciferous veg. Broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, etc. Even smelling them makes me nauseous.

There's this traditional Norwegian dish called fårikål. Literally means "mutton in cabbage". Cooked in a casserole for hours. It's the freaking national dish too. This shit is so fragrant, if someone at the table next to me orders it my appetite is basically gone.

> tastes like grass mixed with paint thinner

How does one acquire the necessary reference point to make such a determination?

I have a serious answer to that question... and its name is "Bison Grass Vodka, from Russia."

I’m not aware of a bison grass vodka from Russia. I quite like the Polish bison grass vodka (Żubrówka). Though perhaps that’s your point.. the Russian variant having notes of paint thinner?

The bison grass mostly adds coumarin as a flavor component, which is the same component that gives Tonka beans their main flavor (also the popular Waldmeister in Germany). Personally a fan of that Vodka, never found it tastes anything like grass. But maybe we talk about a different one, I only know the polish one from Zubrowka.

By associating their smell?

As another comment said, I'm guessing on the taste of paint thinner from its smell.

I know what rocket fuel mixed with coffee tastes like ... you can guess how that reference point was acquired.

No, it fouls soups. I always know if there is a trace of it. As the other commenter remarked, lighter fluid. Or turpentine. It gets worse cooked.

I've heard there's a gene that makes cilantro taste like soap to people who have it. Being that celery and cilantro are related, I wonder if there's something similar going on? Celery certainly doesn't taste anything remotely like lighter fluid or turpentine to me. Maybe even the same gene?

Celery has nice texture, not nice flavor.

thats entirely subjective, I love the flavor of celery

Is there some genetic condition that makes you hate the taste of pretty much all that plant family? I like a very slight anise flavour in cookies, and carrots are pretty versatile, but all of the others are on my "everybody but me loves them but you can ruin any dish with them" list.

There must be. I posted a similar comment. I can't stand the taste of celery (tastes like grass and paint$ or cilantro (tastes like soap), and carrots also have a hint of soapy taste to my palate. Otherwise, I love all vegetables and cook often.

Super tasters is genetic condition for heightened and different taste. Super tasters commonly have problem with coriander/cilantro having soapy taste. But could see more of the family being problem for some people. I wonder if carrots are fine because those eat the root and not the leaves.

I have a problem with coriander, but never saw myself as a super taster. Growing up, I was very picky with food

It's pretty big as a seasoning/spice.

Tastes like soap. So, big for people who like soap.

Are you thinking of cilantro? Never heard anyone say that of celery, only cilantro.

Cilantro too.

Exactly, the famously soap-tasting vegetable… carrot

Its quite salty for a vegetable. Also try buying some from a chinese or farmers market and you'll find more strongly flavored celery than the generic grocery store stuff that is crunchy water

I eat it raw daily. I would say it's a developed taste but i liked it the moment I had it. My sibling on the other hand would not even eat a meal if celery was cooked with it.

I used to think like this. It’s mainly because my only encounters with celery were teachers who thought celery and peanut butter was a good “snack” for kids. Gross.

But in cooking, it’s great. The purpose of celery is to break up the rush of flavor that sauce brings. For example in a stir fry, meat and rice tend to take on the flavor of the sauce (or even become enhanced by it). Celery does not. Sauce doesn’t stick to it. Celery adds dynamics to a dish by adding a pause to the flavor. And in the context of a mouth full of meat and sauce and rice and peppers, celery gives it all meaning by being none of that.

Celery adds paint thinner to a dish.

I can't think of anything that is not better without paint thinner.

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