In Mexico, the price of cilantro has soared to unprecedented highs, and that's a problem because cilantro is essential to Mexican cuisine. Emily Green reports from Mexico City.
Go to any taco stand in Mexico, and you will find three condiments - limes, onions and cilantro.
Carmen Arriola sells tacos on a busy street in Mexico City. Except now, she isn't putting cilantro on her tacos.
"The price of cilantro is through the roof right now," Arriola said.
A bundle of cilantro that used to cost around $7 is now nearly $30.
Arriola said she has never seen the price so high before. I visited my local market to find out more.
Señora Norma runs a vegetable stand. She said the price increase is a product of the drought and heat wave sweeping the country. But it really spiked in Mexico City after heavy rains and hail drowned the crop, creating a shortage.
"It was the rains plus the heat wave," Norma said. "Climate change, that's why the price of cilantro is so high.
Still, she said, people keep buying.
"In the Mexican diet, cilantro is central to everything," she said. "along with avocados, lime, tomato and onion."
I should add here, not everyone likes cilantro. There are an unfortunate subset of people who think it tastes like soap, including a few of my family members. But they are in the minority.
At a food stand in the market, I ask Guillermo Flores his thoughts on life without cilantro. He's a doctor and was eating lunch at one of the stalls.
"Food doesn't taste the same," he said.
I asked him if a taco without cilantro is even worth it.
"Oof," he said. "We eat them out of necessity, but they're not really tasty."
And there you have it. Life without cilantro just isn't as good.