Name: Tomato ketchup.
Age: Debatable.
Appearance: Beautiful gloop.
Who debates the age of ketchup? You know, ketchup scholars.
Ketchup scholars aren't a thing. This is true. But the history of the word "ketchup" is disputed nonetheless. Some argue we took it from a Chinese word for the brine of a pickled fish, others that it came from Indonesian or Malaysian words for soy sauce, or from an Arabic term for pickling with vinegar.
Who cares where it came from? Just the ketchup scholars really.
Surely the big question is: when did it get here? To which the big answer is: some time in the early 1700s. It first shows up in an English cookbook in 1727, in Elizabeth Smith's The Compleat Housewife. One of her recipes calls for "a little ketchup, pepper, salt, and nutmeg, the brains a little boiled and chopped, with half a spoonful of flour".
Brains? In 1727 it was normal to eat brains.
Ah. I see. But not tomatoes? Not in ketchup, no, because it wasn't originally made with tomatoes. Back in 1876, when Henry Heinz first marketed his now ubiquitous creation, "tomato ketchup" was just one of many ketchups on the market.
So what's ketchup doing now? Feeling the squeeze. Sales of Heinz tomato ketchup have fallen 7% over the past year.
Why? Possibly because, after 137 years, we're getting bored of it. According to the Grocer, the fall in ketchup sales was accompanied by a rise in sales of chilli sauce, mayonnaise, dressings and "other ethnic sauces".
Is Henry Heinz worried? Not really, he's mostly dead. The company he founded is also pretty relaxed.
How are they responding? By cashing in with a return to ketchup's varied roots. They've added Mexican chilli and sweet chilli ketchups to cater to our more exotic tastes. Plus there's another explanation for the fall in sales.
Which is? The fact the average price of Heinz ketchups rose 11.1% last year.
Ah. So the real ones who are feeling the squeeze are poor people? Yep. Some things, unlike ketchup, never change.
Do say: "Fascinating. I wish I were a ketchup scholar."
Don't say: "Do you stock this new brain-flavoured ketchup?"
