I don’t like cucumber. I find the taste overwhelming, and if I eat a piece of lettuce that has been touching cucumber, I can’t taste anything else in my meal. Because cucumber has a mild flavour to most people, they think I’m just a fussy eater and a bit of a weirdo. But in searching for information about the coriander-as-soap debate, I came across this possible explanation:
Cucumbers and melons have a similar mild, weird taste to me, which I don’t find particularly unpleasant or indeed pleasant. By contrast my Dad is completely repulsed by cucumber and can just about manage the occasional slice of honeydew melon. He says these foods “taste like petroleum.” My partner J. reports something slightly different. To him, melons and cucumber taste almost, but not quite, like sick. He can’t even bear to eat things that cucumber has touched. I can’t find much information on the net about this particular aversion, but I believe it might be down to a chemical called cucurbitacin, an alkaloid which can cause severe stomach upset if ingested in a large enough quantity. There is certainly an evolutionary advantage in being able to taste this chemical, since tasters and non-tasters alike are equally susceptible to its effects.
This could explain it. I can’t eat anything that’s touched melon, either, and I’m not a big fan of pumpkin or zucchini, which all contain cucurbitacin.