The ketchup conundrum

i am working my way through this book "What the Dog Saw" by Malcolm Gladwell; my cousin recommended the author.. it's been a while since i read anything but my law books and all that are related.. so it has been an uphill task but i'm not going to give up on this book.. it looks promising =)

the topic i'm reading now is my post title.. pretty weird title.. and i thought to myself, he's going to talk about ketchup? really?? i mean what can you say anyway? alot, i found out. i've been forcing myself through the pages only to find it easier to flip the intriguing pages as i move on..

what really caught my attention was the way we looked at ketchup..
- it was a tool used by the food eater (not the food preparor) to control the taste of the food
- it was a condiment, not an ingredient
- it made an unfamiliar taste, familiar (that's why when i was served a totally unedible meal at the cafeteria, i poured tomato ketchup all over it! )

and it made more sense when he pointed at the leading brand,  Heinz's, to show that ketchup pushed all our primal taste senses! it would start off at the tip of the tongue, and move across till it got to the end, touching the familiar sweet, sour, salty and bitter parts (plus umami, which he describes further)..

we did all these unconsciously.. the power of tomato!! not to mention that it crosses boundaries and cuisines!!

Tomato ketchup!! what a world of its own!! And i haven't even completed the chapter!