Eat This! is having its first theme week (2/26/2007). The theme is cilantro and they're inviting people to contribute recipes, commentary, anecdotes, natural remedies, and anything and everything about cilantro.

They plan to include a post about people who hate cilantro and everyone's invited to contribute to Cilantro Week with posts about why they don't like cilantro or about experiences with cilantro allergies.

Contributors may include a bio with a link back to their own blogs or websites.

To contribute, send your submission to Rachel at rwilliamson AT healthdiaries.com in Los Angeles, CA.

People have mentioned that cilantro is known by coriander in most countries outside of the United States. However, to the staff at IHateCilantro.com, cilantro (the leaves of the coriander plant) taste way different than coriander (the seeds). In fact, ground coriander, as a spice, is reminiscent of dried spices like cumin, cloves or nutmeg. As far as herbs, to us, it's similar to basil or oregano. However, this is not to say that the opinions of the staff at IHC are in any way correct or final.

As with cilantro, consider this an open forum to begin discussing your opinions regarding Cilantro vs. Coriander.

This slop sign got us thinking that restaurants should provide warnings before serving cilantro. Something that gets the point across, "Stop! Meal contains cilantro!" It would be designed to slow you down and make you think twice about what you're about to get yourself into - like opening the safety cap on a bottle of medicine and pulling all the cotton out. You think, "what's in this bottle again? Do I really need to do this?"

In some cases it's like breaking the glass in front of a fire extinguisher and setting off the alarm. It says, "there's no going back beyond this point, that's why we're making you break glass first." If you're willing to go all the way and break the glass then it's a real emergency. At that stage you're wholly taking on the responsibility for both a loud fire alarm and pieces of glass all over the floor. It says you know what you're getting into and it symbolizes a point of no return.

It's also like the pop-up button on the cap of a Snapple bottle. On release the button is saying, "you're in it now. You've made the commitment. Enjoy your slop."

Cilantro haiku #1:

A cilantro feast
is best for somebody who
is burning in hell.

Submit your anticilantro haiku by clicking here.