What's wrong with catsup?

[Guest 7Zach]

Having read the complete thread, "Somebody lost their head", I left bewildered for more than one reason, but my favorite is the now fact that it is bad form and a breach of etiquette to use catsup on french fries. Maybe this was because it was a french restaurant, with a french escort, and they should have used instead mustard. But what if one of the people were German, and wanted to use mayonaise.

Does anyone else believe that using catsup with pomme frites is to be shunned?

[Guest Joey Ciccone]

Last time I was in France, my fries came with mayo and vinegar. Call me Philistine, but I was repulsed and left. Probably very bad form, but I did leave a tip.

 

jc

[guyinsf]

Catsup, aka ketchup, is considered by many to be gauche. I happen to enjoy catsup on a number of things, however, particularly french fries.

[Guest Croix]

And that puts you, my friend, in the company of the late Jackie Kennedy, who, apparently, was as gauche as they they come.

[Guest 7Zach]

I'll give it to you re: gauche on some things, at some times, i.e., scrambled eggs. But french fries? It's just funny, but I often learn something new here: don't touch the hair, don't talk about church ladies, etc.

[Guest loverboy]

>Catsup, aka ketchup, is considered by

>many to be gauche.

>I happen to enjoy catsup

>on a number of things,

>however, particularly french fries.

 

But catsup/ketchup is a vegetable, and mustard and mayonnaise are not...

And I like it, too, on FF (no, that's French Fries) and hamburgers. :9

[Guest Joey Ciccone]

>But catsup/ketchup is a vegetable, and mustard and mayonnaise are not...<

 

I'm not defending mustard on fries, but it IS made from the ground seeds of the mustard plant (genus Brassica), which is a relative of broccoli and cabbage. I think mayo starts with eggs and butter.

Vive le catsup!

[Matt_Vancouver]

Silly Americans: ) it's Ketchup and it does not belong on everything.

Matt(Canadian)

http://go.to/mattsplace

matt_escort@yahoo.com

[GinoMancuso]

Who the fuck cares what the French or anyone else thinks? I've been to Paris probably 15 times and it never ceases to amaze me how intimidated (if not terrified) some Americans feel by the Parisians, much to their amusement and pleasure. Some Americans deserve to be treated like idiots there because they ACT like idiots. But most don't. Personally, I prefer mayo or malt vinegar with my fries, but I digress. If you like catsup, you want catsup, then ORDER catsup (provided they have it) from the pissy waiter in France, here or elsewhere. If he turns up his nose, ask him if it was his armpits that he just caught a whiff of.

[Guest Joey Ciccone]

>Silly Americans, it's Ketchup and it does not belong on everything<

 

Sorry mattso (silly frog), but catsup, catchup, and even ketchup are all acceptable spellings, and it belongs wherever the hell we yanks wanna put it. Personally, I like it on rye with pastrami and tongue (just like Leo Steiner!)

 

Sorry about the frog crack. I know you're really a prince in disguise. Where can I kiss you?

 

- jc -

rentjoey@hotmail.com

[Guest loverboy]

>>But catsup/ketchup is a vegetable, and mustard and mayonnaise are not...<

>

>I'm not defending mustard on fries,

>but it IS made from

>the ground seeds of the

>mustard plant (genus Brassica), which

>is a relative of broccoli

>and cabbage. I think mayo

>starts with eggs and butter.

>

>Vive le catsup!

 

The biological origin of either mustard or ketchup is not the determining factor.

During the Reagan administration the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the school lunch program, *defined* ketchup, but not mustard, as "a vegetable" for purposes of providing "balanced" school lunches. I suppose I should have put "a vegetable" in quotes in the original post.

[Guest LG320126]

You should feel at home in France then because the French are notorious for putting mayo on their fries.

[Guest Joey Ciccone]

>I suppose I should have put "a vegetable" in quotes in the original post<

 

That's okay. And I certainly wasn't trying to suggest that mustard is a vegetable. That would be silly. Just as silly as believing that a dollop of catsup is a valid substitute for a real serving of vegetables. I'm not suggesting that that's what you believe. If it is, I meant nothing when I said it was silly. (Boy, this political correctness is tough on the typing fingers)

 

>During the Reagan administration the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the school lunch program, *defined* ketchup, but not mustard, as "a vegetable" for purposes of providing "balanced" school lunches<

 

Didn't they also maintain that the earth was flat during that same administration?

I kid the Reagan years, but let's face facts, the only reason that the 'ketchup' lobbyists were able snag the coveted USDA veggie crown, was because the grass roots mustard caucuses were splintered from the onset by infighting and renegade partisanship. Additionally, the campaign contributions bestowed upon the mustard cause by various interests (including the American Cabbage Growers Assoc. - in a brave show of solidarity) couldn't possibly match the might of the financial juggernaut that is the Heinz Corporation. With their vast financial reserves, they instituted a campaign of terror and subterfuge. Hired thugs, hijackings, bomb threats. More than one mustard seed crop failed to see market that year, and many a mustard farming family went hungry. Ketchup may have won the lucrative school lunch contracts, but every bottle served is dripping with blood and it wears the mantle of 'vegetable' with dubious 'honor'.

As for it being part of a balanced meal, you'd have to drink it by the bottle.

 

Hope you don't think I'm dumping on you loverboy, just entertaining a wild notion. :-)

But I AM looking forward to the day when the USDA 'defines' chocolate eclaires as veggies too. (great with catsup)