… and Tomatoes originated from Central America … which means that chips and ketchup wouldn’t be possible without Native American cultures cultivating these fruits and vegetables
The term ketchup/catsup (or various other spellings) first appeared in about the 1600s, but tomato ketchup didn’t really catch on until about 200-300 years later. Before then it was used to refer to a variety of different sauces/condiments. Mushroom ketchup was a fairly popular one, some were based on fish sauces (you could maybe make an argument that Worcestershire sauce is a type of ketchup) etc.
The general consensus is that it was sort of the result Europeans attempting to recreate various Asian sauces without really knowing what was in them or having access to the right ingredients (for example trying to make something like soy sauce without soy beans)
My favourite story about all that was the one about Worcestershire Sauce … a bunch of English guys who had never been to India wanted to make their own fish sauce but it didn’t work out, so they stored their barrel of stuff in the basement and forgot about it … they found it a year later, tasted it and noticed that it didn’t kill them or make them sick, so they sold it as Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
Fam this would make an awesome kid’s book… once upon a time some native in what is now Colombia is having a family reunion; their cousin from the north brings tomatoes, and their cousin from the south brings potatoes. They catch some fish and eat it with sliced potato, and they debate whether it’s better with tomato paste or without. I bet libraries would stock that book!
Fun fact: potatoes were first domesticated in Peru/Bolivia so it’s likely that someone ate sliced potatoes in the Andes far before they reached Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_potato
… and Tomatoes originated from Central America … which means that chips and ketchup wouldn’t be possible without Native American cultures cultivating these fruits and vegetables
Ketchup has kind of an interesting history
The term ketchup/catsup (or various other spellings) first appeared in about the 1600s, but tomato ketchup didn’t really catch on until about 200-300 years later. Before then it was used to refer to a variety of different sauces/condiments. Mushroom ketchup was a fairly popular one, some were based on fish sauces (you could maybe make an argument that Worcestershire sauce is a type of ketchup) etc.
The general consensus is that it was sort of the result Europeans attempting to recreate various Asian sauces without really knowing what was in them or having access to the right ingredients (for example trying to make something like soy sauce without soy beans)
My favourite story about all that was the one about Worcestershire Sauce … a bunch of English guys who had never been to India wanted to make their own fish sauce but it didn’t work out, so they stored their barrel of stuff in the basement and forgot about it … they found it a year later, tasted it and noticed that it didn’t kill them or make them sick, so they sold it as Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire_sauce
Fam this would make an awesome kid’s book… once upon a time some native in what is now Colombia is having a family reunion; their cousin from the north brings tomatoes, and their cousin from the south brings potatoes. They catch some fish and eat it with sliced potato, and they debate whether it’s better with tomato paste or without. I bet libraries would stock that book!