Your Chinese food tastes like soap due to Cilantro in the food which is known as Chinese Parsley and is found in many Chinese dishes as well as Mexican, Indian, Asian and Middle Eastern dishes.
The herb Cilantro tastes soapy to some people due to the recessive genes they have.
Ginger and Coriander can also taste like soap to some people.
The reason ginger tastes like soap is because some people have a recessive gene that causes the ginger as well as coriander and even cilantro to taste like soap.
Not everyone who eats ginger finds that it tastes like soap.
For people without the recessive gene the ginger often normally has a spicy, peppery, and either warm or hot taste.
Some people also find ginger to have a bit of sweet taste.
Young ginger is very juicy, and has a much mellower flavor.
The chemical taste in Chinese food is Umami which was first defined as being the characteristic taste that is elicited by glutamates and has since also been associated with monosodium glutamate MSG.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancer often added to restaurant foods, canned vegetables, soups, deli meats and other foods.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified MSG as a food ingredient that's generally recognized as safe.
But its use is still debated.
MSG became known as an ingredient that caused headaches, added to health complications, and generally represented the unhealthy, secretive nature of Chinese cooking.
The truth is, MSG is just an ingredient like any other you'll find in Chinese or any Asian cooking, though its history and use are a lot more interesting.
Chinese food and soups contain monosodium glutamate (MSG) as the main addictive ingredient.
MSG has a specific taste known as umami — the fifth basic taste alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
Umami has a meaty flavor that refers to the presence of proteins in food.
BesidesMSG, other umami compounds include inosine 5'-monophosphate (IMP) and guanosine 5'-monophosphate (GMP).