ASmith1946 extrapolated from data available...


>
> And before anyone asks, yes, I did write a book on this too -- Pure
> Ketchup: A Social History of America's National Condiment (Columbia:
> The University of South Carolina Press, 1996) and the paperback
> edition was released by the Smithsonian Institution Press in April
> 2001.
>
> See what a misspent research/writing life I've led?
>
In several episodes of the popular TV series, Iron Chefs, the Chinese
champion(s) uses US Ketchup (no pretense of Chinese origin) as an ingedient
in shrimp dishes because of its savory sweetness.

Much publicized in the US lately has been the supposed overtaking and
passing of ketchup sales by those of picante sauce (a culinary trend in
which Heinz has been left far behind by other Tomato-based food
conglomerates. Just think, soon your next edition will have a title change
to "Former National Condiment".

Tomato paste is certainly an ingredient with applications spreading far
beyond the realm of the tomato, coloring agent, thickener, modest
acidifier.

TMO