Why the American obsession with ketchup? Why?

Why?

ZAZ: Why the American obsession with ketchup? Why?

It's red, it's mostly corn syrup, and it tastes like onions.

I came in to applaud submitter's anti-Raygunism.

Susan Nash, the Aberdeen schools' food service director, says requests have been made to make ketchup available every day.

I've eaten with my kids at school during the parent visiting days... they NEED ketchup at every meal to mask the flavor of some of that dry slop.

I remember the day my kid discovered ketchup. She kept dunking the same french fry and licking it off and then she asked for more.

The first time was amusing, but we've definitely monitored her ketchup intake ever since.

Can't they get creative and offer some decent salsa? You know, chopped up veggies without salt? Or a no-sodium ketchup? It'll help "retrain" the kids' palates.

It's ketchup. Nasty stuff to begin with, and I don't even allow it in the house.

Tabatha Static: I came in to applaud submitter's anti-Raygunism.

*Sigh*. Some people are just consumed with political hatred 24/7.

Veggies don't cost that much. How hard would it be to give the kids some decent, nutritious food? Just leave the breading off the mystery meat a couple of days a week.

Ketchup is not a vegetable, subby.

The world would be a better place if everyone stopped eating vegetables.

st.theresa: I remember the day my kid discovered ketchup. She kept dunking the same french fry and licking it off and then she asked for more.

The first time was amusing, but we've definitely monitored her ketchup intake ever since.

Can't they get creative and offer some decent salsa? You know, chopped up veggies without salt? Or a no-sodium ketchup? It'll help "retrain" the kids' palates.

You really think they're going to have quality options in a cafeteria or make anything distinguishable from slop?

clancifer
Kar98

I see a few didn't quite get the joke subby was making...

attempting to reduce salt in the student's diet? take the salt packets out of the rotation, of course, then you'll need something else to flavor the bland, grey bull feces they feed the kids

On caturday it's spelled catsup.

Mustard and Mayonnaise called. They want to be vegetables too. They're green with envy.

Jeni1090: I see a few didn't quite get the joke subby was making...

Not everyone remembers that.

The school hasn't heard of salt-free or low sodium ketchup?

le mew: Veggies don't cost that much. How hard would it be to give the kids some decent, nutritious food? Just leave the breading off the mystery meat a couple of days a week.

read the article much?

Jeni1090: clancifer
Kar98

I see a few didn't quite get the joke subby was making...

Oh no, I got the joke. I vaguely recall the change for ketchup to be listed as a vegetable. I just can't stand the stuff. And Tabitha Static.... well, I've seen drivel from him/her before.

The ketchup as a vegetable controversy or ketchupgate refers to a proposed United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Drug Administration directive, early in the administration of Ronald Reagan, that would have reclassified ketchup and pickle relish from condiments to a vegetable, allowing public schools to cut out a serving of cooked or fresh vegetable from hot lunch program child-nutrition requirements.

What you people don't understand is that your body will rot if you eat things that rot. The average life-expectancy has risen not because of advances in health care but because of greater amounts of preservatives in our food. Wanna die by age 70? Keep eating those grains, fool. I will be sitting smugly in my pyramid eating twinkies and spam.

This is the same logic that says schools count Ketchup as a vegetable serving.

Kar98: Ketchup is not a vegetable, subby.

Ronald Reagan attempted to have ketchup classified as a vegetable once upon a time with respect to school lunch dietary requirements.

I can't stand ketchup myself. If I feel the need to put it on a burger I use A-1. Polish dogs get deli mustard and onions only. I even put deli mustard on my fries. Can't get enough of that stuff.

Nice job subby. You remembered your historical polls of school-aged children and the food pyramid.
/but that was a UK survey, wasn't it?

clancifer: Tabatha Static: I came in to applaud submitter's anti-Raygunism.

*Sigh*. Some people are just consumed with political hatred 24/7.

That's what happens when you are sexual unappealing.

Kar98: Ketchup is not a vegetable, subby.

I take it that your not from the USDA are you Kar98....
Your gov't would like to have a word with you... but they can't be bothered.

Skip the food, just go straight for the salt shaker.

I once drove from Portland, Oregon to Chicago, Illinois, and the strangest part of the trip was stopping in the middle of nowhere Wyoming for lunch and watching the locals eat their 'salads'. It was iceburg lettuce, crushed satlines and ketchup. It was even on the menu like that.

Lafiel: I once drove from Portland, Oregon to Chicago, Illinois, and the strangest part of the trip was stopping in the middle of nowhere Wyoming for lunch

Ha! And ha! Now do this on a freaking greyhound BUS! Now that was strange.

Ketchup is awesome. I loved it as a kid, I still like it now.

I read an article a while back that discussed the crack-like goodness of Heinz Ketchup. Evidently, they've created the perfect blend of sweet, salt, sour and umami that affects the tongue like a power chord affects the ear. And effort to improve the recipe makes it slip from that God-like pinnacle of taste.

Kar98:
Ha! And ha! Now do this on a freaking greyhound BUS! Now that was strange.

Oh god no! I rode on one from San Francisco to Portland and it was the second worst experience of my life. I will not get on a greyhound bus without a full level 5 hot-suit and about a gallon of air
freshner.

I never though I would see people act like they're too good to use ketchup.

Ketchup and Steak Sauce are simular.

The ingredients in a typical modern ketchup are tomato concentrate, spirit vinegar, corn syrup or other sugar, salt, spice and herb extracts (including celery), spice and garlic powder[2]. Allspice, cloves, cinnamon, onion, and other vegetables may be included.

Steak sauces are normally brown or orange in color and often made from tomatoes, spices, vinegar, and raisins. Some contain anchovies. The taste is either tart or sweet with a peppery taste while some other brands, offer a sweeter and spicier flavor. Most major grocery store chains also offer a private label brand of this type of sauce as "steak sauce". These private label sauces typically mimic A-1 or Lea & Perrins steak sauce, which is slightly sweeter.

Heinz 57 is a steak sauce produced by Heinz. Unlike other steak sauces, it has a distinctive dark orange-yellow color and tastes more like ketchup spiced with mustard seed (Heinz advertises the product as "ketchup with a kick", although it had a harsher, some say more robust taste, before the flavor changed in 1985[citation needed]). A few grocery store chains offer this type of sauce as a private label item under similar names such as "7 sauce" or "59 sauce".

Hey, I was born at the Ass end of Reagan's Presidency, and even I know that he tried to sell ketchup as a veggie...

/mmmmm... ketchup...
//goes great with mayo

Sadly, this makes sense. You need to add Salt, Fat + Sugar to any processed food to hide the metallic, bitter taste that processing gives it.

Lafiel:
Oh god no! I rode on one from San Francisco to Portland and it was the second worst experience of my life. I will not get on a greyhound bus without a full level 5 hot-suit and about a gallon of air
freshner.

A few years back I rode a bus from Boston to Denver. I had a great time. Actually sat next to a really nice guy. After talking for 12 hours we started making out. Went into the bathroom to have sex, but it was too cramped and I started laughing so we went back to our seats. One woman noticed that we had been in the bathroom together (we did leave one at a time) and she looked horrified. The driver also noticed (in rear view mirror) and was laughing.

And I like ketchup. But I like pie better.

OK, I'm adventurous and I'm not opposed to risky sex, but that just made me retch.

ExJerseyGirl: And I like ketchup. But I like pie better.

Two great tastes that go great together!

Public school feeds children's minds the equivalent of no-ketchup as well.

Failure to educate is child abuse.

ExJerseyGirl:
A few years back I rode a bus from Boston to Denver. I had a great time. Actually sat next to a really nice guy. After talking for 12 hours we started making out. Went into the bathroom to have sex, but it was too cramped and I started laughing so we went back to our seats. One woman noticed that we had been in the bathroom together (we did leave one at a time) and she looked horrified. The driver also noticed (in rear view mirror) and was laughing.

And I like ketchup. But I like pie better.

I hope I never have to ride a bus that far, but if I do I hope I'm sitting next to you.

I'm a senior in high school and they're doing alot in my school to cut down on salts and sugars and foods deemed 'generally unhealthy.' This includes, of course, those salt packets (no more salted french fries). They also took away caffeinated drinks, replacing them with diet products.

While that's all fine and dandy, they've failed to replace the bad stuff with healthy alternatives. Instead, they've taken the bad stuff out of meal plans and kept on doing what they usually do. It's hardly edible, either.

/school doesn't even change the frying oil regularly...
//"costs too much money"

ZAZ: Why the American obsession with ketchup? Why?

Why?

is it better that dutch put mayonaise on their fries?

cerberus9: The world would be a better place if everyone stopped eating vegetables.

agreed, remember folks veggies arent food, they are what food eats!

Don't they know ketchup has natural mellowing agents?

Ketchup, for the good times.

The_Philosopher_King: Don't they know ketchup has natural mellowing agents?

I like to dip my doobies in it.

The_Philosopher_King: Don't they know ketchup has natural mellowing agents?

Ketchup, for the good times.

Ketchup.....ketchup........ketchup......

farkingatwork: You really think they're going to have quality options in a cafeteria or make anything distinguishable from slop?

At my high school in new jersey, we had a choice of 2 soups, french onion typically and one that rotates in. We had a choice of at least 2 entrees, at least one was usually fairly good. There was also a salad bar for those that didnt want any of this. They had snacks as well, everything from ding dongs to twinkees, what upset me was the fact that they turned the soda machines off during the 4 lunch periods, although everyone would just go 4th period claiming to need to use the bathroom and get a soda then. Sometimes soda tastes better than milk with some meals.

This was a public school


Seriously folks, if the school isnt making palatable food for kids, then its the parents job to step up and demand better. It is far less healthy for kids to not eat or not eat anything but snacks because there isnt anything tasty to choose from.

Not everyone has the option to make food at home and brown bag it due to time constraints and other obligations that may occur. In some poorer areas the lunch may be subsidised working out cheaper than a brown bag lunch, saving that family some money, which they may need to pay the rent. It would be unfair to say that everyone has the same options and choices, when clearly they dont.

Most families now are dual income, which means that both parents are busy - it also means that those parents had kids before they could really afford them if they cant spend time to do little things like ensure their kids are eating right, but that is a different topic.

Kar98: Ketchup is not a vegetable, subby.

And the joke wasn't all that funny. The school system is trying to do something symbolic to improve diet for our little snowflakes.

My guess is that they are trying to cut the cost of lunches and this was the first thing they thought of.

Does high salt intake really affect anyone with functioning kidneys who doesnt already have a predisposition to hypertension?

Kuta:
I can't stand ketchup myself. If I feel the need to put it on a burger I use A-1. Polish dogs get deli mustard and onions only. I even put deli mustard on my fries. Can't get enough of that stuff.

try alanna instead of a1, its irish so you may have a difficult time finding it in the US (but importers do exist). Its way better than A1 ever could be. Its a brown bottle similar in size and shape to a1, the label has a lot of green and a traditional celtic font is used for the name. Its also tasty on cottage pie (basically what most americans call shepards pie but shepards is lamb, where cottage is beef).