Tomato Ketchup - AIBU?

[poppincandy]

Look I appreciate in the grand scheme of things this is a pathetically small thing, but I'm just interested to get other people's perspective.

My dc are all very good eaters, and can sit and eat well in all environments, and on occassion other diners have commented on what lovely well behaved children they are.

So what's happened is - my son had a friend over who likes tomato ketchup with his chips, although in our family we do not have ketchup, we always have it in the cupboard for any visitors who would like it, along with coffee, salad cream, mustard etc.

Anyway my son does not eat chips (choice not diet), but fancied having the ketchup with the chicken he was having, he then said that he likes the taste of ketchup.

Roll forward to this evening, we go to a smart restaurant, my ds (5) orders sausage, mash, peas and gravy. When they serve the food, the asked whether we would like anything else and my ds pipes up 'Please may I have some tomato ketchup'. They bought it over no problem, but there was a part of me that was like 'Oh no don't go ruining every meal with ketchup, and it looks such a naff thing to do, in some establishments'.

Am I being a snob?

I suspect I am and BU.

That would be my son then poppin!

I was going to check the diary to see what playdates DS has been on this week but it looks like the culprit has been identified!

No more invitations to poppin's house for our chav, ketchup-loving children.

Oh god, I just used THAT word. What an idiot.

Fellatio am applauding yyour food philosophy- focus on what a food offers that is postive and you get ++ health with a little fun too.

Salad cream with fishfiner sarnies = tick

fancy steaks on offer from butchers ('for our best customers'- eek- grocer said saame thing must eat less LOL!)- with a nice garlic butter sauce- tick
lentile curry with home amde mango chutney- tick

A bit of everything, well amde and yummy- huge tick!

Focus on the diet not the food- Gestalt and all that.

Loathe the stuff but the DC love it with certain things and are really poor eaters so I tolerate it.
Much happier to see them eat it since I bought a tacky tomato shaped bottle and diluted it with an equal amount of flaxseed oil ( they haven't noticed )

Why thank you Sancti. I was described on MN the other day as 'A beacon of good sense in a sea of sanctimonoius twaddle.'

Which is a glorious way of someone publicly acknowledging, that as usual, I am right, and righter than everyone else!

Bubble2Bubble - what an inspired idea!I nominate B2B for a healthy eating ideas gold medal.

Am off to locate tacky plastic tomato thing right this minute.

Ketchup on fishfinger sarnies - much more sensible.

Salad cream with mashed potato

Mayonnaise only goes with tuna

Mint sauce is spawn of the devil

Brown sauce is for weirdos

Mustard with everything

Flaxseed oil gives me the runs..I wouldn't thank you for that, bubble

you are too kind ISTS

here it is

Awesome!

Fanjo, no ketchup for you at our house.

Salad cream and mashed potato. Twice in one thread. Seriously? Does anyone else do this? Am I the only one to lovingly make my mash with olive oil, milk and wholegrain mustard?

YABU!

Sausages are lovely with ketchup. Many people like a sauce with their food. He's a kid. It's not naff.

My mum hated ketchup, she said it was an insult to her food if we smothered it with red crap (her words), but she was a Cordon Bleu so I see her point.

DD loves it but too much of it isn't good as it's full of sugar and it really sits on the teeth.

I once went camping in the guides and someone there had tomato ketchup with everything, including cereal for breakfast! Now that is bad!

And my mum definitely would have considered ordering ketchup in a restaurant somewhat not comme il faut. She also hated those little plastic packets of condiments that are so ubiquitous these days.

I'd be a bit pissed off if DD asked for ketchup in a restaurant, but that's my mum rubbing off on me!!!!!

dipping chips in ketchup is different to smothering your food in it.

The main ingredient of ketchup is tomatoes. Yes, it's sugary but most people just have a squirt of it.

It is a big snob thing.

I can't eat caulflower without thai sweet chilli sauce all over it.

Ah in teh guides we used to use ketchup to clean badges and flag brasses >- was the acvid content

But then you can apparently negate the acid / sugar bit by following with cheese (and no I dont mean cheesestrings mothered in salad cream or any other suggestions LOL)

Our ketchup bottle last ages (and is Waitrose though only as that was closest supermarket to that campsite PMSL).

And then you can all consider how lucky you are that unlike me you can eat cheese and not get very ill

(Actually I can't but its hardly t'end of the world, eeven if I did move from nearby Cheddar to nearby Caerphilly for max temptation PMSL)

ah, sancti, I was going to say that the second ingredient in ketchup was vinegar (hence excellent cleaning product) but thought that would only prompt comments about tooth erosion.

What about vinegar on chips? I bet that's not considered nearly as naff since it is far more aesthetically pleasing.

Miggsie, your mum would have wanted me shot a few years back - I used to pocket little plastic packets of tomato ketchup whenever possible, as DD would bearly eat without ketchup. They were useful if we ate somewhere where they didn't have it, or if I couldn't get someone's attention to ask for it, or if I just got embarrassed at asking for more. :( I was really cross the time I had to break some of it out to get her to eat the lovely chicken croquettes they do on the kids' menu in La Tasca - but now they've dumbed down further and have fish fingers on the menu, so she insists on those instead. Sigh ... I'd rather we went back to croqueta di pollo with ketchup.

But while she does eat too much of the damn stuff (am not a snob about it, just don't like it myself and get rather sick of the sight of it) she does at least dip, and not smother.

Other tomato-based sauces don't convince her - last night's tomato sauce with meatballs, made with fried onion, passata, dried oregano and fresh basil, no go. Grr.

Mmmm sweet chilli sauce...

Although I wouldnt put it with cauliflower. Wouldnt put anything with cauliflower actually. Vile.

Isawthreeships - I would definitely eat mashed potato your way, sounds good, I would eat mashed potato any way really, straight from the saucepan, no other food required.

Mashed potato made with Boursin is very nice... bit expensive but hey! it's worth it once in a while.

I don't make the mash with salad cream, just eat it with it. only with an 'old fashioned' salad though, (involving hard boiled eggs and maybe a bit of pork pie, pickled baby beetroots, that sort of salad) not on a dinner with gravy!

Everything is better with tomato sauce.

Is there anything tastier than a cold sausage with salt and a good smear?

Unclench.