tomato sauce or ketchup? a matter of national pride

[Ken Gargett]

as any good young aussie lad knows, ketchup is just a weird name americans give to a good traditional tomato sauce. even though they might claim otherwise (an early example of fake news, if ever there was one). i remember attempts to convert us to ketchup. good luck. more chance of having us drive on the wrong side of the road.

anyway, i thought this might be of interest to both sides. and remember, we shall never surrender.

 

Heinz’s Decades-Long Attempt to Convince Australia That Ketchup Is Awesome

 

Australians grew up with tomato sauce. Heinz wants to sell them (nearly identical) ketchup.

 

by Ernie Smith

December 21, 2017

 

This is not tomato sauce. Mike Mozart/CC BY 2.0

A version of this post originally appeared on Tedium, a twice-weekly newsletter that hunts for the end of the long tail.

Americans far and wide grew up with a prominent number 57 on the bottle of their condiment of choice, Heinz Tomato Ketchup.

Of course, not everywhere is like the United States, home of Heinz ketchup. Residents of every other country grew up with their own traditions. Take New Zealand, where squeezable, plastic containers, filled with tomato sauce rather than ketchup, have been a fact of life and still have a degree of kitsch value to them.

Likewise, Australians didn’t grow up with ketchup, either; they also subsisted on tomato sauce. In the 1950s and 1960s, brands like Fountain came to define the country’s relationship with a sauce built from tomatoes.

A label for tomato sauce manufactured in Brisbane, Australia. State Library of Queensland/Public Domain

Broken down, the difference between the two condiments, besides location, is relatively modest. Ketchup, at least in its American form, generally has vinegar. Tomato sauce, which is found in New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, often does as well, though you’ll find it listed as acetic acid and water, two ingredients that, together, are the two main elements of vinegar. So the main difference appears to involve the splitting of hairs. (In previous eras, ketchup could be made from different fruits, from shellfish, or even from mushrooms.)

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Whatever the case, there’s a lot of pride taken in some countries’ tomato-condiment variants. This is particularly true in New Zealand, where the brand Wattie’s is so loved that there’s a commercial dedicated to the sauce, in which a man sings a song titled, “You’ll Never Be a Kiwi Till You Love Our Wattie’s Sauce.”

Wattie’s, a common example of Kiwiana or New Zealand kitsch, has been owned by Heinz since 1992. So even if the number 57 isn’t everywhere, the company sells plenty of tomato-based condiments in New Zealand.

Does this phenomenon stretch to nearby Australia? Certainly, the country loves its tomato sauce. But do they love tomato sauce produced by Heinz? Not so much. In fact, with much futility, Heinz has spent decades trying to sell the Australian public on ketchup—not tomato sauce, ketchup. Heinz owns its own tomato sauce line, Big Red, but it’s long been trying to make a serious case for the American stuff in the Australian market.

Heinz has struggled to make the case that ketchup is a worthy alternative to the condiment that most Australians grew up with. Not that they haven’t tried. In 1991, for example, per the industry periodical Food Australia, Heinz launched a cookbook to tell the public that its ketchup was distinct from tomato sauce.

“Heinz Tomato Ketchup Marketing Manager Martin Dowling said that Australians need to be educated that tomato ketchup is different, it is not tomato sauce with an American name,” the article stated. It also pointed out that American-style ketchup made up just 3.4 percent of the market at the time, an increase from two percent, but still anemic compared to how Heinz ketchup does in other markets.

You say tomato; I say tomato. Ivan Timov/Unsplash

Heinz’s efforts to sell the Australian public on ketchup have at times been seen as something of an affront on Australian identity, especially as, starting in 2010, the company started advertising ketchup on television. Famed Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith, whose company makes the competing OzEsauce, was among the more prominent critics of the move.

“They don’t give a stuff about Australian culture or our way of life,” he told The Sunday Telegraph. “They’ve basically said if we have one common label and … call it ketchup all around the world, that’s the best way we can make money.”

For Australians, it seems, ketchup is an Americanism in a country that has seen its fair share of American culture bleed in already. In a similar vein, Australian television personality Scott Cam worried that the term “tomato sauce” would be replaced by ketchup. “What, are we gonna start walking down the sidewalk?” Cam said, referencing that Australians instead say footpath. “They’re infiltrating us—it’s not our way of life.”

More recently, the company has made its case against tomato sauce by having a celebrity chef point out that it’s thinner than ketchup, using the kind of demonstration Americans might recognize from laundry detergent commercials. The approach is actually a throwback for Heinz, which once used the thickness of its ketchup as a selling point in the United States.

However, rather than selling the public on the idea that ketchup is better than tomato sauce, the most recent advertising seems to simply be creating confusion—Matt Young of news.com.au wrote a lengthy story trying to figure out if there was actually a difference between ketchup and tomato sauce, beyond the advertising. He failed.

Heinz’s ketchup campaign isn’t necessarily tilting at windmills—the company by no means struggles in Australia. Its most popular products in the region, under different brands, include canned beans and beetroot. Heinz Beans are nearly as iconic in Australia as Heinz Ketchup is in America.

But ketchup does seem to be a much harder sell. In 2012, the company closed its local ketchup factory, after 70 years of existence, and moved its production to New Zealand. In a final indignity, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported the news as “Heinz tomato sauce factory closes.”

 

 

[HarveyBoulevard]

Tomato sauce... What a ridiculous name for a condiment...

Tomato sauce belongs on pizza.

What kind of third world country is Australia????

[Ken Gargett]

4 minutes ago, HarveyBoulevard said:

Tomato sauce... What a ridiculous name for a condiment...

Tomato sauce belongs on pizza.

What kind of third world country is Australia????

is ketchup even english?

as i have said before, there are two types of people in the world.

australians, and those who want to be (and if i may add a little local dig, two types of aussies - queenslanders and those who wish they were).

 

[Kitchen]

Should we call vinegar "spoiled wine?"

Should we call demi glace "concetrated beef stock?"

Should we call a roux "buttered flour?"

[LLC]

I would never use tomate sauce with French Fries or on a burger nor would I put ketchup on pasta or pizza. Two totally different things.

[foursite12]

What we know as tomato sauce in the US is relatively thin in consistency and primarily used in cooking. It is likely to be the foundation of a pasta sauce with the addition of some onions, garlic, herbs and spices.

Ketchup is a condiment; the yin to prepared mustard's yang. It is thick. To echo @LLC's sentiments, it most assuredly does not form part of any pasta dish I would be interested in eating.  In addition to the aforementioned vinegar, one tablespoon (15 mL) of Heinz Ketchup contains 4 grams of sugar--more than a chocolate chip cookie--in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, the crystal meth of sugars.  Ketchup is to tomato sauce what whipped cream is to milk.

 

[Dara]

We had a similar battle in Ireland, we grew up with “salad cream” but that’s now gone the way of the kiwi and been replaced by “mayonnaise” !

[joeman]

And I won’t even get into the Italian-American argument of tomato sauce vs gravy...

[Mattb82]

Want some tomato sauce with those fries, weird 

[BellevilleMXZ]

I don't care what it s called, but now I'm hungry..............

[JamesKPolkEsq]

Ketchup has an interesting history:

National Geographic Article on Ketchup's Invention

Quote

Ketchup comes from the Hokkien Chinese word, kê-tsiap, the name of a sauce derived from fermented fish

 

[Ken Gargett]

27 minutes ago, JamesKPolkEsq said:

Ketchup has an interesting history:

National Geographic Article on Ketchup's Invention

 

really interesting and thanks. i've actually done articles on fish sauce but i don't remember that ever coming up. it is fascinating stuff on its own.

this, of course, gives me the opportunity to question how on earth anyone could ever hope to compare good old aussie tomato sauce (it is even mentioned in song... same again for the second course...), incomparable on a good meat pie - and yes, our pies are different to those from across the pond as well - with a tomato version of fish sauce.

i think this would be the aussies one; black hats zero!

[PatrickEwing]

So what are all other tomato sauces called? Tomato sauce on pizza is pizza sauce? Tomato sauce on pasta is marinara? Or just pasta sauce? 

[gweilgi]

49 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

really interesting and thanks. i've actually done articles on fish sauce but i don't remember that ever coming up. it is fascinating stuff on its own.

this, of course, gives me the opportunity to question how on earth anyone could ever hope to compare good old aussie tomato sauce (it is even mentioned in song... same again for the second course...), incomparable on a good meat pie - and yes, our pies are different to those from across the pond as well - with a tomato version of fish sauce.

i think this would be the aussies one; black hats zero!

Agreed, an excellent article.  It does help to explain why there are Georgian silver cruet/sauce labels for ketchup: the name existed and only became associated with tomatoes much later...  It does mean, though, that "ketchup" is the proper term for this condiment in Britain.

That said, as any good Englishman knows, there is only one fit and proper sauce for pies and sausages: HP Sauce, made with the goodness of mushrooms!

And by the bye, here's a conundrum for the Aussies: when -- and WHY?? -- did malt vinegar disappear as the perfect addition to chips in God's Own?  These days, it's extremely hard to find it ... in one restaurant, when I asked for some, the waitress disappeared for five minutes, returned and proudly drizzled my chips with *balsamico*.

 

[Lotusguy]

I'm in Queensland right now and sorely miss ketchup for my fries

 

Edit: chips

[OB1]

This is a great thread. If I ever end up in OZ land, I’ll be sure to bring my own ketchup. 

[GeorgieP]

Ketchup is from Pittsburgh, period.. it’s not tomato sauce, it’s ketchup. Catsup is an attempt to be like ketchup, but it’s not - nor does it taste like it. Having had the opportunity to travel to a number of countries outside of the US and taste Heinz ketchup abroad, take it from one born and raised in the ‘burgh, ketchup is ketchup.. it’s about the taste and the time it takes to get it out of the bottle (aka anticipation and could be a reason why they invented squeeze bottles). 

Anyways, younse Aussies are all good on tomato sauce.. if Heinz can’t get the flavor to match your taste buds, I think you’re safe.  

[Ken Gargett]

3 hours ago, gweilgi said:

And by the bye, here's a conundrum for the Aussies: when -- and WHY?? -- did malt vinegar disappear as the perfect addition to chips in God's Own?  These days, it's extremely hard to find it ... in one restaurant, when I asked for some, the waitress disappeared for five minutes, returned and proudly drizzled my chips with *balsamico*.

 

no idea but i agree. any time i would ask for vinegar for chips, i'd be looked at like i was insane. ditto if i asked them not to put salt all over them. did that once and then watched the idiot pour salt over them. why did you do that, i asked? didn't think you were serious. well i am and if you want to be paid, get rid of them and get a fresh serving. and they were not happy.

[Shaunster]

We never call it Ketchup around here, its Tomato sauce or red sauce. I dont like it anyway, brown sauce is king.

[Auspaul]

Used to be called Dead Horse back in the 70s and when you got your maggot bag they  would ask do you want any sauce on that.

Bet there is no Ketchup in this movie  

 

[99call]

It's all disgusting whatever it's called.    Hear in the UK you can witness locals doing Jackson pollocks all over their chips, mixtures of brown sauce, mayonnaise, and tomato sauce, utterly utterly disgusting, makes me want to vomit seeing people gorge on whipped oil and sugary condiments. 

Whats wrong with people? why the need to season everything with sauces that make everything taste the same? I saw a friend once 'inject' his Pork chow mein with a 5 second splurge of tomato sauce......rancid!

[GrouchoMarx]

A ketchup critique from a vegemite eater?

How rude! LOL

[anacostiakat]

Everyone knows tomato sauce is called red gravy!   

[SirVantes]

5 hours ago, gweilgi said:

That said, as any good Englishman knows, there is only one fit and proper sauce for pies and sausages: HP Sauce, made with the goodness of mushrooms!

 

HP hasn't tasted the same since Heinz moved its production to the Netherlands...but let's not open that can of sauce

[Fuzz]

2 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

no idea but i agree. any time i would ask for vinegar for chips, i'd be looked at like i was insane. ditto if i asked them not to put salt all over them. did that once and then watched the idiot pour salt over them. why did you do that, i asked? didn't think you were serious. well i am and if you want to be paid, get rid of them and get a fresh serving. and they were not happy.

I used to get vinegar on my chips all the time. Most lunch shops no longer have it, though you can still get it at some fish & chips shops.

As for tomato sauce vs ketchup, I grew up oon Fountain tomato sauce. Used in on burgers, chips, meat pies, etc. But there is a difference in taste between Fountain tomato sauce and Heinze Ketchup. So nowadays I tend to use ketchup on hot dogs and burgers (with American mustard), but tomato sauce on meat pies, sausages and bacon & egg sandwiches. It just depends on the meal. Though, a nice garlic aioli is great with a burger.