This is very interesting! According to the article, the gene makes people either like cilantro or hate it entirely. I used to hate cilantro in my childhood as it smelled exactly like a stink bug to me. But it's the opposite in my adulthood. Cilantro enhances the savory taste, both in its raw and cooked form.
It's not entirely accurate. I used to hate cilantro (tried it first as an adult), as it does smell kind of soapy, but it grew on me. It's part of the taste for something like a thai curry. I recently planted one and thought it smelled great when I was watering it, soapy or not.
Basil can also smell a bit like cat pee, but it's still great on some things.
Whoever says it tastes "kinda soapy" is likely do not have that gene variant in the first place. Because if you have it, it tastes like soap, full stop. Like you bite into a soap bar. Even a tiny bit of cilantro.
Or maybe I've just gotten so used to awful taste that I can ignore. It's just bitter*.
* I'm not sure if bitter is the correct word. In my native language we use the word "bitter" for things like beer, but there's another word for the sharper taste of soap, but they both seem to be translate to "bitter" in English. Maybe acrid is a better word?
