Ina Garten has always been generous with sharing her favorite recipes and cooking tips, from an easy hack to help keepkitchen knives sharp, to secrets for perfectroasted veggiesandhomemade muffins. She’s even provided a sneak peek into whichcondiments she always keeps in her pantry. But there’s one surprising ingredient the Food Network star and cookbook author avoids at all costs: “Cilantro. I just won’t go near it,” she says on an episode of theVICEMunchiespodcast.

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“Hate it!” she toldMunchies. “I know people love it, and you can add it to the recipe. I just hate it. To me it’s so strong—and it actually tastes like soap to me—but it’s so strong it overpowers every other flavor.”

Cilantro is a must-have for some home cooks, especially in dishes like tacos, guacamole, soups and sauces—but Garten puts forward recipes that often call for the herb, well, without it. See her cilantro-freeGuacamole Salad Recipefor proof.

“When cilantro is in something, that’s all I can taste. Everything else goes away,” Garten admitted.

But before you start wondering if there’s something wrong with the Barefoot Contessa’s palate, you should know thatCornell University researchers have foundthat you can be genetically predisposed to despise cilantro—and those with a certain trait think cilantro has a “soapy” taste when consumed. It’s become such an issue that 23andMe, a popular DNA testing service, sells an at-home test that allows you to discover if you have the same aversion.

Many home cooks dislike cilantro because of family history (and where your ancestors came from) and something called OR6A2, which is a gene that determines how your taste buds perceive the flavor of cilantro. If that gene is dominant rather than recessive, you’ll be much more sensitive to cilantro’s powerful flavor profile, the Cornell University scientists explained.

While Garten seems to firmly fall in the “no cilantro” camp, there are certain things you can do to try and overcome any knee-jerk reaction to the herb. There’s an entireonline community thread on Redditdedicated to people who naturally find the herb repulsive, with tips such as carefully removing the stem, which retains most of the pungent flavor.

While cilantro is the only food on Garten’s absolute no-go list, there are three more things she’s not “big on”…

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