This is very interesting, thanks for pointing it out! I really dislike cilantro, and to me it always tasted strongly like stink-bugs (not that I ever tried eating one...). I never really understood the dish-soap reference though.
So if this is correct, then the whole point of my original post is completely wrong. I'll have to look into this further.
It definitely some kind of spectrum of response, rather than just either or.
Cilantro to me isn’t something I would generally describe as soapy. If it’s real heavy there can be a slight soap aftertaste that comes through, though at that point the cilantro essence itself is just too much.
I do find the comparison of the essence of cilantro as similar to stinkbugs a bit more apt. There’s this hard to describe chemical smell that some insects give off that isn’t cilantro exactly, but is in some sort of similar class. Kind of how we group sour things together.
I can tolerate some cilantro without noticing much, but if it’s heavy in a dish it’ll become repulsive and ruin it. For me it’s fine when treated like a spice, not a salad.
Apparently Methoxypyrazines are found in stinkbugs and cilantro, and are responsible for a lot of “vegetal” smells.
Likewise it seems that stinkbugs can give of “trans-2-dodecenal” [0] which I guess can be written as “(E)-2-dodecenal” (I am not a chemist) which is found in cilantro and has a chemical citrus peel type of smell. [1]
From the first time I was exposed to cilantro I thought it smelled like stink bugs. I don't really get the soap taste but I rarely eat enough to really experience that, either. Oddly, I liked coriander seeds long before I was exposed to the herb. They have a very different taste to me.
So if this is correct, then the whole point of my original post is completely wrong. I'll have to look into this further.