FOOD SPECIAL.. Ketchup is tomato sauce
Not all sauces are ketchup, but
all ketchups are sauces. Ketchup is an American phenomenon. You have it with
fries, steaks, burgers, eggs…Donna Dawson, a psychologist, has identified seven
“sauciological” types of personalities. These include those who dunk food in
it, squirt or swirl ketchup. According to food historians, ketchup originated
from the Chinese pickled fish sauce, travelled with sailors to reach Europe and
by early 19th century was well established in the US. By the 20th century it
was the most popular sauce in the country. Like sauces, ketchup too has varied
uses — polishing copper pots, trying to impress 20-somethings by dancing to the
“Ketchup Song” (considered to be one of the worst songs of the ’90s by Rolling
Stonemagazine). And of course if you are a filmmaker on a shoe-string budget,
using ketchup as blood (not only B-grade Hindi directors but also French auteur
Jean-Luc Godard used this trick!)
Sauces are like flirty comments that
lighten a dull Monday afternoon. They add that bit of zing. However, too much
could cause heartburn, too little or none could make a man feel murderous. As
happened at a Taco Bell outlet in Missouri where one Jeremy Combs threatened an
employee of the restaurant with a shot gun. The staffer’s fault? He had
forgotten to include hot sauce in Combs’ order! And misuse of sauce could get
you a strong reprimand from the authorities. Alaska’s Jessica Beagley — termed
“hot sauce mom” by the media — was fined $2,500 for force-feeding her adopted
son hot sauce as punishment. But sauce has had more normal uses. For hundreds
of years, it has been used as a flavouring either in liquid or semi-solid
forms. So in Western dishes, gravy is a sauce; so are Hollandaise, salsa rossa
and steak sauce. Think Chinese food and chilli, soy and oyster sauces come to
mind. If only life could be pepped up with a topping of sauce.
ET 110925
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