A Conversation for Ketchup

'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 21

anhaga

Actually, we have Ketchup flavoured crisps here (Canada). I've heard rumours that this is unusual. Of course, we also have sour cream and sweet chili, salt and black pepper, jalepeno and cheddar, lime and black pepper, roast chicken . . .


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 22

Pond_Rat [life is weird - laugh at it.]

Chips without gravy is a sin isn't it. smiley - huh

Tomato Sauce (the real name of ketchup in English speaking countries smiley - biggrin) is an acceptable substitue on chips if no gravy is to be had.


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 23

riotact : like a phoenix from the ashes

i would be much surprised if salsa really surpassed ketchup in sales volume. a quick look at supermarket shelves shows this is nonsense.

salsa may very well surpass ketchup in dollar amounts of sales however, as it is a more expensive item. some upscale brands are ludicrously expensive.

i specify DOLLAR amounts of sales; outside the US, salsa remains a very marginal grocery item.


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 24

fords - number 1 all over heaven

We have tomato sauce (ketchup) crisps here in the UK too. We also have Marmite flavoured crisps smiley - biggrin


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 25

anhaga

I'd heard of the Marmite ones. Sounds yummy.smiley - smiley


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 26

anhaga

"outside the US, salsa remains a very marginal grocery item."

smiley - erm I guess it depends which directions you go "outside". I suspect ketchup is pretty rare on grocery shelves to the south of the U.S. And I know that Salsa is certainly passing Ketchup for shelf space north of the 49th.smiley - smiley

Maybe the salsa thing hasn't crossed oceans yet, but it seems to have done the hemisphere.


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 27

riotact : like a phoenix from the ashes

hmmm... i would think they tend make their own salsa south of the border. almost all the mexican retaurants in my hometown, and a lot of my friends both anglo and hispanic, do.


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 28

anhaga

Well, that puts salsa even further ahead. In my trips to grocery stores in Mexico, I can't remember seeing much ketchup around. But salsa was certainly present. Actually, I remember trips to grocery stores in the South-West U.S. where Salsa had squeezed ketchup out.smiley - erm

How many ketchup users make their own?

I agree that the question of which is ahead by what criterion is much debated. But there have been a number of news stories over the last few years saying that salsa is ahead. I think it is certainly a subject that needs to be attached to the entry. (as it now is.smiley - smiley)


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 29

riotact : like a phoenix from the ashes

"Well, that puts salsa even further ahead"... further ahead in consumption but not in sales, which was my point.

"How many ketchup users make their own?" i was going to point that out; no one makes their own catsup. if you want it, you buy it.

i was perhaps wrong in claiming more shelf space was devoted to catsup than salsa, but the myriad brands and versions of the latter could account for this without proving that more salsa is sold than catsup.

obviously this or any debate depends upon the yardstick retained, so we both could be right. please note also that i am a salsaholic but could very well live without catsup (i tend to eat my fries with mustard).

so all in all, no reason to get excited. unfortunately, because i'm fond of a good tiff sometimes, and this thread starts to remind me of something one of my old professors used to say: "academic politics are the most vicious and bloodthirsty of all, because there's the least at stake". smiley - peacesign


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 30

Mu Beta

One point that hasn't come up thus far in the convo is that ketchup is quite a closely-guarded recipe and hard to replicate, whereas any muggins can make their own salsa in the kitchen in minutes flat. I certainly make a variation on salsa most weeks for one dish or another. Maybe this is proof of the Americans' dependency on fast food?

B


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 31

anhaga

It's ironic that both sides of this debate are being argued by devoties of salsa, isn't it? I agree that it depends on the yardstick and I take the articles trumpetting salsa's triumph with a very large grain of salt.

As for making ketchup at home, there is the guide entry (linked to in the present entry) on how to make it at home.

As far as 'just go and buy some', in my neighborhood that goes for salsa just as well as ketchup.smiley - erm


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 32

riotact : like a phoenix from the ashes

catsup is not necessarily a "closely guarded recipe", you can make your own. in fact, i just googled salsa+ketchup, and the first several hits were catsup recipes in spanish and italian. with "ketchup+salsa" i got:

"Ketchup is back, beating Salsa $498 million to $480 million in 1998." http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=19960

"according to Food Marketing Institute - 1999 sales...reveal that ketchup sales amounted to more than $677 million, while Mexican-style salsas toted up to $1,053,503,000. Note that those are dollar-sales, not unit-sales. Salsa can be a more expensive condiment, so sales of hundreds of cases would equal more money at checkout."
http://www.cincypost.com/2001/may/09/recipe050901.html

"Three fourths of U.S. households bought ketchup in 1996...mustard is the nation's second most popular condiment, at 71 percent, followed by salsa at 63 percent"...... "Salsa has gone mainstream in our society with 20 percent of all households consuming salsa. It is said by some that salsa surpasses ketchup as the # 1 condiment, but this is a controversial issue."
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/BrittanyBerger.shtml

"salsa outsells ketchup IN TERMS OF CONSUMER DOLLARS SPENT (my caps)"...... "There are now more than 380 upscale salsa brands on the market,"
http://toptastes.com/wine/aug02/salsa.htm


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 33

anhaga

I suspect that it is the "dollar sales" yardstick that the "salsa surpasses ketchup" articles have been using. I also get the feeling that it is always U.S. sales that are being measured. It would be interesting, though likely impossible, to see some sort of world wide or at least hemisphere wide figures.smiley - erm


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 34

riotact : like a phoenix from the ashes

just when i thought i was getting to like you anhaga...

to me, bought salsa is almost like chef boy-ar-dee spaghetti in a can. two of the major notes in the mixture must be fresh cilantro and raw onion; coming out of a jar this is impossible.

there are probably some upscale prepared salsas that only my pigheadedness keeps me from enjoying, but the run of the mill stuff seems very hydrogenated and carageenish to me.


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 35

anhaga

Go ahead and start liking me: I've only found a few comercial salsas that are anything near to ok (strangely, they've actually been the less expensive ones). I wasn't saying that I personally always just go out and grab a bottle of salsa at 7-11. For me, however, there is a convenience issue: as a single parent of a special needs child, I sometimes find it easier to crack a bottle than to make the whole fresh thing. And there is nothing more depressing than finding fuzzy peppers in the bottom of the fridge.smiley - sadface

I do keep cilantro growing in my herb pot (this years hailstorm kind of put an end to that for this year).

Isn't it funny how Chef Boy-ar-dee has tried to make more adult things, like tortellini in a can? And somehow, it still ends up being mush in ketchup.


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 36

riotact : like a phoenix from the ashes

well, i guess you're alright after all...

chef boy-ar-dee, haha!

i tell folks here in france about peanut butter: they say "sure, i've tried it. curious, but not bad!"...
i mention microwave popcorn: they say, "why not?"...
cheese in aerosol cans? "well, americans can't be expected to respect cheese the way we do"...
canned spaghetti: "what, are you pulling my leg? you take me for some kind of idiot???"


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 37

anhaga

How about little plastic trays containing a small bagel (sliced), a packet of runny creamcheese-like stuff, a piece of rubbery sweet stuff that purports to derive from fruit, and some potato crisp crumbs, all purporting to be a lunch for a child? How it is more convenient that putting a bagel with creamcheese and an apple into a paperbag, I don't know.






(and yet, in weak moments, and under pressure, I've bought them.smiley - blush)


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 38

anhaga

Have to go to work. Be back later.smiley - smiley


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 39

fords - number 1 all over heaven

I hardly ever eat processed foods (but then again, I have more time on my hands) and would rather make my own. At least you know what's going into it! However, Heinz do an organic version of their tomato sauce (ketchup) which is luverly, and I'm sure it can't be hard to find organic salsa in your local Tesco (or furrin equivalent) smiley - smiley


'Salsa surpasses Ketchup'

Post 40

riotact : like a phoenix from the ashes

tesco sells wine in cans i hear, so i imagine you can find anything there...


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