coriandre

Although Charlemagne encouraged the planting of coriander, fresh coriander (cilantro) was next to impossible to find twenty years ago in France outside Asian and North African supermarkets, but that has changed dramatically, much to the dismay of corianderphobes.

Maybe the ancient Greeks were, too: although it was cultivated in Mycenaean times, they named it koríandron after smelly bedbugs! Alexander the Great took it to India, where it became a hit. Modern Greeks hardly eat the fresh leaves at all.

Coriandre also means coriander seeds, which have always been popular everywhere for their citrussy perfumes