The issue of if cilantro tastes like soap, weather that be genetic or not, we can't ignore that if cilantro was common at the time, people would have grown up eating it, and would have been used to the taste.

There also was likely less concept of individual preference in the food you ate. The food was made for the family, and you either ate it, or you didn't eat.

Even I had to live through this with boiled brussel sprouts as a kid.