The Wonderful World of Ketchup

It’s red, it’s gloopy, it tends to get on everything from kids’ faces to clothing, but I have gone from a ketchup hater... to lover. 

The smell of ketchup made me sick when I was pregnant- literally.  And even now, if I was ever captured by terrorists and locked in a cell, all they would have to do is put a big blob of ketchup very close to my nose for an extended amount of time and I would ‘sing like a canary’, not that I know any State secrets.

But now, I have come to love ketchup, and have it in my home at-all-times-

Why, you may ask…? 

Because my son will eat almost anything… if he can dip it in ketchup.

Ketchup is basically tomato concentrate, distilled vinegar, corn syrup, salt and onion powder.  It is also referred to as Catsup, but it’s still the same thing.  

The other night my son dipped his cantaloupe in ketchup and then dunked it in parmesan cheese, 

“Mmmmmmm.”  He commented, while nodding his head.  

Yep.  That was cantaloupe, ketchup and parmesan cheese.

French fries, chicken, fish, cheeseburgers, grilled cheese, green beans… watermelon-

They all go better with ketchup, according to my little guy. 

He will dunk grape tomatoes in ketchup.  And when I point out to him that he’s basically dunking tomatoes in more tomato, he looks at me like, 

‘And what’s your point?  It’s just more of a good thing.’

Ketchup is helping with ‘trying new foods’ all the time in our house. 

AND Ketchup has helped with the whole ‘doing your job’ lesson.  Every evening my son gets out the ketchup from the refrigerator and places it on the dinner table.  And he puts it away after dinner… now, without being told. 

I realize ketchup tastes sweet, but come on…

Am I alone in this?  Is this normal? 

Sigh. 

So ketchup- you win.  I still don’t like your smell.  And I’ll always reach for the mustard when I’m holding a hot dog, 

but you have helped me in my quest to introduce new foods to my son and have relatively calm dinnertimes.  And while I sometimes have to hold back a wince while I watch my little guy dip strawberries and other fruit in that big red blob of goo called ketchup-    I’ll take it.

Original DC Metro Moms Post

When Nicole isn’t thinking about condiments, she’s concentrating on the good stuff at BananaBlueberry.