One of the world’s oldest condiments - Dan Kwartler

Trace the history of ketchup, from the condiment’s origins in 3rd century China to becoming a staple of American cuisine.
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In the mid-18th century, England was crazy for ketchup. The sauce was a staple, but this ketchup wasn’t the ubiquitous red goop you’re familiar with today. In fact, it was a sweet and savory brown sauce that didn’t even have tomatoes in it. So where did this early ketchup come from, and how did it become the dip we know and love? Dan Kwartler traces the condiment's history.
Lesson by Dan Kwartler, directed by Denys Spolitak.
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View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/one-of-the...
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Animator's website: vimeo.com/denysspolitak
Music: www.workplaywork.com
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[@w8ting4fri]

That was 100x more interesting than I thought it would be. History is so cool.

[@uWiLlScReAm]

At least if its not about war.

[@Mayflower09]

That’s Ted ed

[@232nd5]

Interesting! This is real. I found 'ketchup' in the Southeast Asian dictionary. Soy sauce is called "kécap" in Indonesian and "kicap" in Malay. both from old Chinese, meaning fish sause😃

[@ingaman]

Kinda funny cause ketchup sounds like Cantonese is 'fan ke jup,' which is literally just tomato juice.

[@mernisch8307]

souse

[@johndavidson3424]

Sauce.*

[@Elakbar246]

except kecap or kicap nowadays are nothing related to tomatoes 😂 they are either sweet or savory fermented soy sauce

[@ingaman]

@@Elakbar246 True. I've heard sweet and sour pork get called 'ke jup jyu (pork),' but it doesn't contain tomatoes at all. Languages are weird.

[@seyaglas]

I feel the most important point is missing from the historical explanation and that is food preservation, which is roughly stated with the chinese background here. See the main food issue for most of human history wasn't flavor but longevity. Salt brinning and fermentation were the go-to methods. the garum (not sure about the spelling) was a long lasting sauce. That was the main reason for it's success. When occidentals started experimenting with ketchups made from other ingredients than fish, their primary concern was to create a different flavor without sacrificing the main attribute of the sauce: longevity, hence the choices of ingredients chosen (shellfish, mushrooms, onions and such). Tomato ketchup used to be one of the least appreciated version of the sauce, because it used to rot way faster than the others. Heinz corrected that issue by reducing the tomato sauce with the emerging sugar aboundance in America and replacing most water content with vinegar, finally fixing the problem of longevity. That is why to this day it says tomato ketchup, and not just ketchup.

[@toolbaggers]

WTF are you talking about? The first thing the video talks about is preserving fish.

[@seyaglas]

If you cared to read you'd answer your own question.@@toolbaggers

[@Goldslate73]

I love to see Tedx animations evolve... But the older ones are comfort.

[@beadmecreative9485]

They don't have a specific style, they work with different animation studios and use their characteristic style to animate the videos.

[@Kimoto504]

I liked the humor in this one.

[@ha8008]

its not rly evolution tho, they just have different animators cycling

[@StAu8390]

Salt bae had me suddenly laughing 😂

[@TheArtsyAviary.]

The animators cooked this time 🔥🔥🔥

[@TheArtsyAviary.]

YOU GOT HEARTED BY THE ALMIGHTY TEDED !!!!!!

[@aleksandarvil5718]

1:00

[@TLguitar]

Salt *Bao

[@Aut0nym0us]

Old man got rizz

[@thegamingdogwr]

“ Ketchup with us on .... ” 😂🤣

[@awesomehpt8938]

Personally I’m not one for ketchup. For me it doesn’t cut the mustard. I don’t relish the opportunity to have when offered. There’s no way you can butter me up with it. I don’t make a big dill out of it.

[@limkailuen3022]

Very punny comment there , shame some thirst trap channel stole it from you . Good to see that Ted Ed approves of your joke though .

[@l.zevicreations]

Mayo please stop (joke)

[@OscarOSullivan]

I love English mustard

[@Kappatalism]

Ketchup is great for chicken burgers only

[@aleksandarvil5718]

3:33 DAT Tomato 🍅 twerking 😂😂😂

[@TristanSamuel]

I am forever haunted by that

[@andrummiestick2165]

GYAAAAA-

[@hsupergabe]

Savor it!

[@upsetchicken7214]

seems something that Danny Casale would do

[@Moon-li9ki]

I once saw a guy at school eating banana with ketchup, it deeply traumatized me and still haunt my dreams to this day

[@sirchtnecnivsanti7273]

There's a banana ketchup. Do with that information what you must.

[@aedianskywalker1717]

@@sirchtnecnivsanti7273 Is there really one?

[@EllaQuing]

yep, Filipina Maria Orosa made banana ketchup. Used banana instead of tomato because it was war time and tomatoes weren't available

[@albino_allygator]

We love banana ketchup.

[@aedianskywalker1717]

@@EllaQuinghuh, neat. thanks for the fact!

[@eshep71]

That will be the most impactful 5 minutes of my day.

[@mimosveta]

people are dying of malnutrition in ga za

[@ismanhaji]

@@mimosveta um.How does that have anything to do with what he said?

[@eshep71]

@@mimosveta that goes good with ketchup too

[@kalesantosh]

4:29 WTH I am seeing!🤣

[@kingofpigs6630]

Something traumatizing

[@theWZZA]

LOL

[@Synchro789]

“It’s not gonna sauce itself”

[@itsJasCoffee]

Ayooo that hotdog be getting some

[@chris131shadow]

i thought i was the only one

[@CalebCalixFernandez]

Since sodium benzoate is still used today as a food preservative, I'm inclined to believe that the amounts of it used back in the day to preserve food products were way higher than the amounts used today.

[@toolbaggers]

Why don't you look it up instead of blind faith?

[@ovencake523]

"Officially, sodium benzoate is regarded as not harmful-only when consumed in large amounts can it cause allergic reactions or contribute to the exacerbation of disease symptoms in aspirin-induced asthma (with hypersensitivity to aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) [14,15,16]. Apr 2, 2022" www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9003278/#:~:text=Officially%2C%20sodium%20benzoate%20is%20regarded,14%2C15%2C16%5D.

[@ovencake523]

Officially, sodium benzoate is regarded as not harmful-only when consumed in large amounts can it cause allergic reactions or contribute to the exacerbation of disease symptoms in aspirin-induced asthma (with hypersensitivity to aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) [14,15,16].Apr 2, 2022 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9003278/#:~:text=Officially%2C%20sodium%20benzoate%20is%20regarded,14%2C15%2C16%5D. but, when mixed with vitamin C, Sodium Benzoate can turn into Benzene, a known cancer causing chemical " If sodium benzoate is known to harm people's health, why is it legal for use in food? Questionable additives, including sodium benzoate, continue to be allowed in the food we eat because of the Food and Drug Administration’s outdated generally recognized as safe, or GRAS, rule loophole. The purpose of the rule was to allow ingredients to skip regulatory approval only if they’re known to be safe. But it’s allowed manufacturers, not the FDA, to certify their own ingredients as safe. Since 2000, nearly 99 percent of new food chemicals added to the food supply chain have exploited the GRAS loophole. And government agencies regulate chemicals one at a time. Potential harm caused by exposure to food chemicals does not come from exposure to just one ingredient. Instead, many health harms can be caused by a combination of ingredients, like sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid, sodium benzoate and citric acid, and sodium benzoate and vitamin C. These toxic combinations must be taken into account for regulation to be effective." www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2024/02/what-sodium-benzoate

[@gorilladisco9108]

Why would they use large amount of it if a pinch was enough? Sodium benzoate did not important for the taste of the condiment, therefore they wouldn't use it more than what was needed. Business people always look for ways to cut their costs, after all.

[@FlyingDwarfman]

@@toolbaggers The phrase "inclined to believe" doesn't mark blind faith. Rather, it's more of a casual hypothesis.

[@beeauralife]

First hypnotized by the animation. Then watched again to listened to the story. Kudos! animation and sound team🔥just love it

[@raibee2478]

Love how Tedx are keeping up with the times through this animation style, but the other less modern styles were more engaging for me. Tangent aside, I'd also like to share how during WW2, the Philippines had produced ketchup out of bananas. Its inventor was Maria Orosa, who was from the University of the Philippines. She sought to maximize local alternatives to imported produce.

[@Oratte]

From old china to brazilian pizza. What a rich history

[@Coxas2000]

😂

[@SedatedGhostwriter]

3:31 a twerking tomato? This video is wild

[@darriusdias]

Henry "Hotline Bling" Heinz (4:10) 👌

[@PlutoDarknight]

Asian salt bae, tomato twerking and then the bottle and the hot dog, TedEd must have had a field day with this

[@johnnguyen1972]

I gave literal standing ovation/LOL at 59sec! OMG, this whole vid's animation is SLAYING it!!

[@leethungsen5362]

I am amazed that the word 'ketchup' originated from SEA. Although, the word 'kecap' is used for an entirely different sauce (soy sauce) today in Indonesia.

[@TheArtsyAviary.]

1:00 salt bae

[@jeff7097]

That's why as an indonesian i'm very confused when knowing ketchup using tomato years ago. Now I know the reason hahaha

[@Peichen01]

Both the English word and the Indonesian word have the same origin, either Cantonese or Hokkien

[@rl9217]

4:29 “We like to have fun here.” -The Ted-Ed animators

[@SnehaSharma-nb1tj]

*The sassy twerking of tomato is phenomenal!* 3:36

[@kraneiathedancingdryad6333]

The smirking hot dog getting slathered is a bit disturbing....

[@SnehaSharma-nb1tj]

A bit, yup.​@@kraneiathedancingdryad6333

[@SnehaSharma-nb1tj]

A bit, yes.

[@marianoguy]

saucy

[@Sunflowersarepretty]

Ketchup and mayonnaise are my favorite condiments and they go so well together ❤

[@davea6314]

When ketchup has an argument with mustard, it gets very saucy. 😜

[@soniafabian8362]

It came back in full circle after María Orosa invented the banana ketchup.

[@planktonfun1]

That hotdog and ketchup 4:31 is SUS

[@aleksandarvil5718]

1:00 **Salt Bae** reference PRICELESS 😂😂😂

[@mecahhannah]

Awesome as always thanks ❤

[@fatinz5776]

We still have the fermented fish sauce. It is very popular in Kelantan, Malaysia. It is called as 'budu'. 'Budu' is very salty. Thus, it should be eaten in a small amount. 'Budu' is used as a dipping sauce for ulam (fresh vegetables) and fish; eaten with rice. I would eat budu with durian, fresh veggies, fried fish and rice in one meal. It is so good! The salty budu taste complements the sweet durian flesh. Most Kelantanese ppl could not live without the sauce.

[@ResidentRocker]

i was not ready for asian salt bae.

[@204lemon]

The animation style is so fun

[@michaelsamn3902]

In the Cantonese language, the word for tomato is fan ke, and the word for juice/sauce is chup. So tomato juice is fan ke chup or ke chup. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I speak of the name origin, not the sauce or recipe origin.

[@johndeorian6654]

Are you able to please share the relevant characters? I tried it on Google Translate and got the tomato part (番茄), but I can't find the character for sauce that gives ~"chup". Thank you!

[@michaelsamn3902]

@@johndeorian6654

[@PolkaLeshy]

​@@johndeorian6654 its likely tjap or cap.

[@lcyj7878]

@@johndeorian6654 茄汁

[@CanadaLuke]

Did you even watch the video? The name origin came well before people in the Canton region had access to tomatoes. It's literally the definition of a coincidence that the English word ketchup sounds similar in Cantonese.

[@mxferro]

I always think of Simpson episode, mr. Burns grocery shopping for himself, in the aisle trying to figure out, catsup/ketchup. Lol

[@fel001]

This has been coming back to my mind for years and years when I see ketchup 😅😅 glad to know I'm not alone

[@irinapoleshuk9072]

Love the animation, subtle allegory, 🌶️

[@YorkShire-fb1jq]

I needed this video sooner

[@user-wk8vl9hg4t]

I love this Ted-Ed videos❤❤❤

[@Dockif]

thanks for such inspiring video, always love your how beautiful and colorful your animation was 😍😍😍

[@dorkydoodle3573]

The music in this was so good!!

[@SciMinute]

Always awesome contents!

[@Yaminojittai]

This is why I love TED-Ed.

[@ImSandyRubi]

Your animations are the best! ❤

[@HinnerkHesse]

I barely knew anything about the history so far, therefore I am glad that I could finally ketch up

[@vaibhavdesai89]

Best information.

[@rafaelamedeiros8063]

Hi!! I’m from Brazil and I love to watch your videos, especially the ones “Why should you read”. There’s many of it, and would be great if you make for some book of Machado de Assis, like “Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas”, it’s a classic of literature, and very important for our country. Sorry for my english, i’m learning yet. Thank you

[@mishaelarviano1582]

In Indonesia, we called soy sauce -> kecap (ketchup). and for ketchup, we called it saus tomat (tomato sauce). also, worcestershire sauce is kecap inggris (english ketchup) in Indonesian.

[@whyareyouonmyprofilefreak]

omg im somali and we say ingris for english too i wonder why

[@ibrahim_im]

thank you

[@PowerrPundit]

the tomato twerking tho 💀

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

The details in this video were so saucy

[@aditisk99]

Never thought I would see a tomato twerking. 😂😂

[@user-vx3kn5hi7v]

0:58 salt bae is chinese???

[@ahumblecookie8997]

I still remember the first time I ate okonomi sauce. "It tastes like ketchup with coke" I said, and now I can see how it was most likely yet another derivation of ketchup. Very cool!

[@MathewSan_]

Great video 👍

[@strawberry_cereal]

Fun fact: Ketchup was orginally called "Catsup", Ketchup was a name invented by heinz, a fact forgotten by this otherwise great video.

[@biohazard737]

U mean the English spelling? The word originated from Chinese, so no he didn't "invent" it

[@langreeves6419]

It was spelled ketchup as early as 1711, long before heinz. Heinz changed the spelling of their product from "catsup" to "ketchup" But he did not invent either spelling. Also catchup may have been a spelling before catsup.

[@emmymeme7787]

I think you just mean the spelling. The pronunciation of "ke chup" originated from Cantonese. Heinz just used his own spelling for it.

[@waxedlatexpanda8496]

Really interesting!

[@chelseagirl278]

This makes sense now! My British friends always say, "tomato ketchup" I could not understand why.. thank you!!

[@gorilladisco9108]

Because Brits knew ketchup as fermented soy instead of crushed tomato, while American only knew ketchup as crushed tomato instead of the original fermented soy. 🤔

[@chelseagirl278]

Exactly!

[@boredwarlock5216]

Most excellent.

[@CrazYTactiC]

Interesting as always 😊

[@yellowstarproductions6743]

Agreed

[@jonathan_herr]

I'd love to see a return to some of the older ingredients from history. Shallots in the sauce would be so dang good I think!

[@johnbenedictstaana3468]

While the global evolution of ketchup took place by the time of World War II, a distinct variety of ketchup is found in the Philippines. Facing a scarcity of tomatoes due to the war, Filipinos ingeniously turned to a local staple: bananas. In 1942, Filipina industrial chemist Maria Orosa launched the first banana ketchup recipe as a substitute to the usual tomato-based ketchup. The recipe based on the mashed bananas, vinegar, sugar and spices yielded a sweet and tart salsa that was very much close in taste to the tomato-based version. Banana ketchup was now a household name, loved by many as part of the diverse Filipino cuisine. I just wanted to add this information cause i was really hoping for it to be mentioned when i was watching this video:

[@shinseoulgii9700]

Same

[@beckyknight8655]

the animation with little faces in the machinery is awesome!!!!

[@anzaklaynimation]

Props for animators.🎉

[@geraldmarin1]

probably the most explicit ted ed video ever - I see what you did there

[@KRISHNA-ix6pb]

Nice video!

[@yellowstarproductions6743]

Agreed

[@DeconvertedMan]

I'll watch this latter and catch up to it then.

[@pedallove7058]

This is a story I've wanted to know for decades! Thank you! My mother's side of the family has the notariety of being the Pittsburgh family that wouldn't loan Heinz $100 to become partners in the original pickle business!

[@toolbaggers]

Why didn't you look it up? They had encyclopedias back then.

[@curtisCclarke]

In the United States of America -- ketchup is now primarily made of water, high fructose corn syrup, red dye coloring,, & artificial sugars. Just read the label yourself, & you would see this.

[@user-yf6xv3ld6o]

Salt bea got me rolling on the floor😂

[@kwang-hoban3247]

ted ed is world’s most animation program!

[@Fordo11789]

I love ketchup this is a great quick snap into the history of my favorite dip

[@heyjune2450]

the whole vid was an amalgamation of various memes lol

[@tohjingwei9703]

The original word actually comes from Hokkien. "Keh" refers to the certain type of fish while "Tsiap" means sauce. The funny thing is that majority of hokkien speakers assumed that "Keh tsiap" actually direct translation of Tomato sauce to the language because coincidentally "Keh" when pronounced in a different intonation means tomato

[@user-bp4nv3qp4d]

Respect TED ED 👍🏻😃

[@JoshuaRoberts-me7gz]

Yea i also respect Ted Ed too

[@Mary-J-OK]

Tomatoes and fish have the same chemical compound - MIND BLOWN! I mean, why? How? What a crazy planet we live on! Also, I swear there have been times when I've eaten a tomato and have wondered, "Does this taste fishy?!" but since I couldn't figure out where the taste was coming from, I dismissed it. Cool video!

[@906087]

I watch this just before eating dinner which will definitely have ketchup now. Could you do one on mayonnaise?

[@raoofstv2480]

“Catch-up with us” 😂😂

[@yusufrosyid3561]

Great video👍, I just know that a bottle of ketchup has very long history and modification. Nice information😎😎

[@ljolivarez2]

That hotdog animation around 4:35 was crazy 😭

[@pogisworld2773]

1:00 had me wheezing 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@ZR3009]

Watching this video while eating seafood cuisine with ketchup on it never felt so good.

[@muhammadisaac07]

I love Ted Ed

[@academicstewart]

honestly the Anthony Bourdain quote is a trueee statement. I can't most things without sauce

[@NoteCat540]

Bro I remember spending all night trying to figure this out for my project 💀

[@Random9_]

Ketchup with us 😂 nicely done

[@drwhocooke]

Very good tale! MISSING only is the expansion (or revision) in SE Asia to the very popular "Banana Ketchup", while fish sauces remain popular.

[@RJTheHero8]

I certainly wasn't expecting a twirking tomato in a Ted-Ed video. Yet, here we are.

[@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369]

I recommend the "Will it Ketchup" KZbin series by Weird Explorer, a whole lotta fruit can be made into into the modern thing instead of tomatoes to... varying success lol

[@Joseph-xs2mo]

underrated video

[@megamind_2222]

1:00 That Salt Bae meme😂

[@user-iv5zl3jj5x]

very very interesting before I do not now that souce about

[@frankydman]

Shockingly, Henry Heinz also had a major role in food safety in the United States. Because he was committed to selling a quality product, he actually was one of the few in the food industry who back the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, the first food safety regulations in the country. He knew that if this law passed, it would drive his competition, who made the cheaper, less safe versions of ketchup, out of business, so from Heinz’s perspective, supporting this law was a no brainer

[@macarenatl5150]

The tomato twerking was everything.

[@jyusatsu]

This is an interesting info. I'm surprised to learn that ketchup actually originated from fish sauce. Also here in our country, we're using bananas instead of tomato as main component for ketchup. From fish sauce to banana ketchup is just mind blowing.

[@morrismonet3554]

I have a bottle of mushroom ketchup and a bottle of fish sauce in my fridge right now. My only use for tomato Catsup is on French fries. Fun fact. Some countries call it tomato sauce. Complicating copying recipes.

[@paulangelo6733]

In the Philippines we use banana ketchup because during the war there were no tomatoes in the Philippines. Its actually pretty good

[@salsal435]

Can you do one about salsa please?

[@jujitsujew23]

Interesting to see this after Max Millers episode

[@naveenraj2008eee]

Hi Ted Ed Wonderful video Never knew about ketchup history. Thanks for educating.

[@PoshMurder]

You forgot to include how when early forms of ketchup were introduced into England, to suit local palates it became heavily mushroom based instead - later tomato ketchup took over in popularity, over time. Also you have left out a lot of information regarding Heinz. Tomatoes around that time period were considered poisonous (they were not, however that is another story), unless they were cooked considerably. The effort to make tomato ketchup at home was considered a laborious task, and one big reason for the initial popularity of Heinz bottled ketchup is that the hard work was already done for you. In fact, the slogan for Heinz Tomato Ketchup at the time was "Blessed relief for Mother and the other women in the household!" (you can look that slogan up rather easily). If this video wasn't so short, and just 10 minutes long, it would be easy to include this information.

[@ashish.kashyappp]

I'm watching while eating ketchup 😋

[@bogdanciupitu965]

Ahahahah

[@puxydow6650]

Fun fact: in the Netherlands, most soy sauce is still sold as "ketjap" (Indonesian: Kecap), which comes in sweet and salty variety. Tomato ketchup came back into the country later, after the English bastardized the word to ketchup, so now we have both, with different words for it!

[@toolbaggers]

What about Americans bastardizing English words like "catsup"