October 23, 2007

"For some families, ketchup accounts for a large part of the household vegetable intake."

So ketchup is a vegetable! In an article about "going organic," the New York Times blithely expresses the belief that has sprouted millions of Reagan jokes for the last quarter century.

29 comments:

Meade said...

The hell! Everyone knows tomatos aren't even vegetables. They're fruits.

Batter-coated french fried potato fried in trans fat. Now that's a vegetable.

rhhardin said...

I have the feeling that ketchup is a fruit.

It's being replaced by salsa, in any case.

Ben (The Tiger in Exile) said...

Reagan was a big boy. He could take it.

Anonymous said...

French fries are just a ketchup delivery system.

Nittacci said...

Reagan was a source of much excellent humor.

He was always good for a laugh, if you could ignore the damage he was doing.

k said...

One of these days, we'll be looking at "trans" fats and saying, WHAT WERE WE THINKING?

MODERATION, people. MODERATION! Prof. Althouse says the same thing. Only she's more subtle.

Eat what you want, what you need, what you desire, what you crave. Just don't eat 10 pounds of it at a time! Moderate!

There's no such thing as "bad" food and "good." Only food. And thank God for the industries that have made decent food available and affordable to everyone in our country. We are so fortunate!

Jeff with one 'f' said...

Other than the 1986 amnesty, what damage did Reagan do?

Christy said...

I'm with Windbag, fries are just the excuse to eat ketchup.

I became bored putting up tomatoes one year and tried making ketchup. Inedible, even with the freshest of tomatoes and a recipe from The Joy of Cooking. I have a special appreciation for the bottled stuff.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Vegetables are what my food eats. Before I eat it, of course.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

Other than the 1986 amnesty, what damage did Reagan do?

For many on the Left (I said Left, Left, not liberals), destroying socialism.

Y'know, the God that failed? He put a stake through its heart.

At least, where it existed outside of American faculty lounges.

SMG

Maxine Weiss said...

Where's TC ??

I, personally, am riveted to TC's posts.

Althouse says she's an artists, then she should respect art in all it's ungainly forms....even when she disapproves of the style of the art!

It's time for Quixxo and Reality Check to make their triumphant return....

Zachary Sire said...

Speaking of fruits and vegetables...what do you call the chopped up mixture of tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime juice, and jalapenos?

I, and everyone I know, call it Pico de Gallo.

I am from Southern California and am wondering if that has anything to do with it. But everytime I go to a place that serves Mexican food here in New York City (and by the way, the Mexican food here is awful) I overhear patrons referring to pico de gallo as "tomatoes"!!!!!!! It makes me so mad.

I was in a Chipotle restaurant the other night (it's actually more like fast food, but it's better than any of the so-called Mexican restaurants I've come across here) and when the clerk asked the person in front of me and the person behind me what kind of salsa they wanted, they both asked for "some of the mild sauce, and some of the tomatoes" while pointing to the pico. Arhrgrg!! What should I do the next time this happens? I wanted to tell them..."uhh..that's called Pico de Gallo, not 'tomatoes'...duh," but I'm not one to unnecessarily talk to strangers.

Is it just easier to say "tomatoes"...is it a time thing? I know that New Yorkers are pressed for time and maybe that's it. Tomatoes is only 3 syllables and pico de gallo is 5. But it makes them seem so uneducated and uncultured, like baffoons.

Can someone explain this to me though? It's driving me, well, bananas!

P.S. Another thing that New Yorkers do differently than Southern Californians...when you order food from any fast food place, deli, or counter, the clerk always says "To stay or to go?" In California, the clerk will always say "For here or to go." This bothers me because if you say "to stay" it sounds like your infringing on their space. "I'm staying." But if you say "for here," it's less demanding, without any baggage attached to it. Thoughts?

john said...

zps,

Really, and dont you just hate people who say "crick" when they mean "creek"? You hear that and you just want to turn around and tell that person that may be acceptable in Wisconsin, but not here, for gods sake.

And I could go on, but its late.

Regards

Maxine Weiss said...

"My children like to donate to a lot of causes."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/23/AR2007102301882_pf.html

blogging cockroach said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
blogging cockroach said...

There's no such thing as "bad" food and "good." Only food.

there's nothing like a fry that's 3 days old
with ketchup sprouting just a little mold
and meatball bits that fall behind the stove
are so like pearls in a treasure trove
some say tomatoes are for making sauce
and big round splats are great to come across
but milk's one leap to immortality
is cheese and that's an old banality
there are some other states of grace to which
cows' noble gift attains without a hitch
in carton corners left for days on end
a solid forms whose qualities transcend
those of your camembert de normandie
organic is the best for microbes free
and if you leave the carton lid undone
my friends and i will eat but we must run
at hint of breaking day or footsteps rude
not everyone agrees there's no bad food

Joan said...

There's no such thing as "bad" food and "good."

Sure, and a calorie is a calorie is a calorie... until it hits your metabolism, and biochemistry takes over. Just keep right on thinking those happy thoughts, and everything will be OK. [/sarcasm]

My pediatrician assured me years ago that for kids especially, ketchup is indeed a vegetable, given how small they are and the quantity of ketchup they eat (which is a lot.) She was probably one of the most Left people I've ever met, and she still had no problem acknowledging the vegetableness of ketchup.

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

In Mexico, what you call 'pico de gallo' is called 'salsa casera' -- home-made salsa. 'Pico' simply means anything diced or chopped to a fairly small size.

zzRon said...

"In Mexico, what you call 'pico de gallo' is called 'salsa casera' -- home-made salsa. 'Pico' simply means anything diced or chopped to a fairly small size."


I dont care what it is called, as long as there is plenty of it on my table. I call it "food of the gods" and put the stuff on almost everything (a good steak or seafood are the exceptions). In my neck of the woods (Michigan) it is usually referred to as pico de gallo. If I am ever in Mexico, I will know what to order. Thanks :-).

bill said...

ZPS: ...Thoughts?

Yeah, you've got about 2 minutes of a Jay Leno routine going there. I don't mean to insult, but that's not a compliment.

bill said...
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bill said...

Harold McGee and the umami properties of tomatoes.

bearbee said...

My pediatrician assured me years ago that for kids especially, ketchup is indeed a vegetable, given how small they are and the quantity of ketchup they eat (which is a lot.)

Heinz nutritional info for its original ketchup shows one serving - 20 grams or 4 tea spoons, has 4.7 grams sugar or almost 1 teaspoon of sugar.

Any wonder kids eat those 'veggies?'

Jeff with one 'f' said...

SMGalbraith, I consider those actions constructive!

bill said...

for comparison:

20 grams of cherry tomatoes = .52 grams of sugar
20 grams of a banana = 3.3 grams of sugar
20 grams of grapes = 3.1 grams of sugar
20 grams of raisins = 11.8 grams of sugar

bill said...

Forgot to mention, that was just to compare to the 20 grams of ketchup. A serving size of fruit is much larger. For example, 1 cup of seedless grapes (160g) has 24.8 grams of sugar.

Lots of foods have sugar, it's all about proportions and a balanced diet. As long as the kid isn't sucking down fruit juices and kool-aid all day long, a teaspoon of sugar in the ketchup isn't going to hurt.

El Presidente said...

Ketchup is the communist vegetable, it's red and it makes everything taste the same.

jiminy jilliker said...

Doy. Just...doy.

bearbee said...

20 grams of cherry tomatoes = .52 grams of sugar

Unlike the other foods listed, the 4.7 grams of sugar (mainly glucose syrup)found in ketchup is not naturally occuring.