Ketchup and other food products are classified for different purposes by different agencies under a wide variety of federal programs. The classification of ketchup in this case was by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for its subsidised school lunch program. Then as now, local school districts in the US could receive reimbursement for each lunch served provided it met minimum standards. In mid-1981, only a few months after Reagan took office, Congress cut $1 billion from child-nutrition funding and gave the USDA 90 days โย the blink of an eye, for the federal bureaucracy โย to come up with new standards that would enable school districts to economise, in theory without compromising nutrition.
The USDA convened a panel of nutritionists and food service directors to ponder what to do. One option on the table โย no one later would admit to putting it there โย was to โaccept catsup as a fruit/vegetable when used as an ingredient.โ Some panel members seized on this as an opportunity to discuss whether to count ketchup even if used as a condiment. From what I can tell, the motive wasnโt so much penuriousness as trying to face facts about what kids would actually eat. USDA standards at the time required that a reimbursable lunch consist of five items: meat, milk, bread, and two servings of fruit or vegetables. Many kids refused to eat the veggies and the stuff wound up as โplate waste.โ Would-be realists on the panel reasoned that if they could count ketchup as a vegetable they could meet federal standards without having to throw away so many lima beans, thereby saving money while having no impact on the kids. Looked at in a certain light, it made sense. Ketchup wasnโt the only newly permissible substitute: pickle relish and conceivably other condiments could also count as vegetables (precise interpretation was left to state officials); protein sources like tofu or cottage cheese could replace meat; and corn chips, pretzels, and other snacks could replace bread. Minimum portion sizes were also reduced, purportedly another effort to reduce waste.
But the good news is, this only happened in the US, and the US government doesn't decide matters of scientific classification. They especially don't decide what things are and are not for the rest of the world. Therefore, ketchup is not a vegetable, it is a condiment. There, I said it, fight me.
Bonus joke:
do you know what the hardest thing about eating vegetables is?
The wheelchair.
The ketchup as a vegetable controversy refers to proposed United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) regulations, early in the presidency of Ronald Reagan, that intended to provide more flexibility in meal planning to local school lunch administrators coping with National School Lunch Plan subsidy cuts enacted by the Omnibus Regulation Acts of 1980 and 1981.[1][2] The regulations allowed administrators the opportunity to credit items not explicitly listed that met nutritional requirements. While ketchup was not mentioned in the original regulations, pickle relish was used as an example of an item that could count as a vegetable.[3] A similar controversy arose in 2011, when Congress passed a bill prohibiting the USDA from increasing the amount of tomato paste required to constitute a vegetable; the bill allowed pizza with two tablespoons (30 mL) of tomato paste to qualify as a vegetable.
Summary
The Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1980,[1] signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, reduced the Federal School Lunch and Child Nutrition Programs budget by approximately eight percent.[3] Building upon these reductions, the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981[4] (passed as the Gramm-Latta Budget) made further spending cuts to the Federal School Lunch Program decreasing its fiscal year 1982 budget by 25 percent.[3] To administer the requirements made by both Omnibus Reconciliation Acts of 1980 and 1981, the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) was tasked with proposing ways to implement the regulations while maintaining nutritional requirements for school lunches despite the lower funding.[5] Among the recommendations made by the Food and Nutrition Service's September 3, 1981 Regulations[3] was a proposal to give local school lunch administrators flexibility in accrediting substitute food items that met FNS nutritional requirements and regulations. The report stated an item could not be counted as a bread that was not enriched or whole-grain, "but could credit a condiment such as pickle relish as a vegetable."[3]
While ketchup was not specifically mentioned as a potential substitute, critics demonstrated outrage in Congress and in the media against the Ronald Reagan administration for cutting school lunch budgets and allowing ketchup and other condiments to count as vegetables. According to New York Times reporter Benjamin Weinraub, "the opposition had a Dickensian field day of outrage and mockery that contrasted school chi
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Car-rot of Shivia
This rarely happens, but our store actually ran out of ketchup packets and we couldn't get more until the next day. We had to tell customers that we were out of ketchup. This one customer in the drive thru asked for ketchup and when we told him we were sold out, he asked for a Sundae instead. The presenter and the order taker thought he was joking until they realized he was actually serious. My solution was to fill a condiment cup with ketchup from our kitchen and give it to the customer. They were apparently still unsatisfied but thankfully left after that. I proceeded to prepare several condiment cups just in case to avoid any more ridiculous sauce requests.
Iโve been subscribed here for a long time. Iโm 36yrs old and although I like to cook I am not always into making elaborate meals. Iโve only recently learned that roasting vegetables is super easy, delicious, and doesnโt add the calories of oil because itโs baked not fried.
A large pan of roasted vegetables can last all week as leftovers. Iโm shocked.
Huge plates of chili cheese fries or loaded tots seem to be big draws on bar and restaurant menus. They are typically marked up in price drastically compared to just a normal side of fries. Yet even if a place has good French fries, they can never hold up when they are drowned in liquid and the juices from the other toppings, resulting in a bowl of mush and soggy potatoes.
A crisp, well made French fry dipped in ketchup (or whatever dipping sauce you prefer) is far superior and how French fries were meant to be consumed, not drowned by a separate entrรฉe.
02 Feb 2020
When does this madness end?
I write this down not because Iโm afraid to die. Itโs because I know that I am.
This has gone far out of my realm of expertise. All I did when I was a younginโ, all my experience with cold mashed potatoes and spaghettiโฆ it doesnโt hold a candle to the war thatโs raging now.
I canโt see how it will end. I donโt even remember how it started. But the weapons of mass destruction have been rolled out, and I pray only for a swift end for the few of my remaining comrades and me. It seems tough to even wish for a painless end.
Durians. The enemies have procured durians.
For those who ever read this, take this as a warning: war didnโt happen because the soldiers wanted to fight, but because some smart-ass decided that wasting food was the best use of their sustenances. Donโt do it. Treat yourself, and your food right.
As God is my witness, I hope I donโt go to heaven, where food is plentiful. Send me anywhere else, even hell.
Amen.
In Heinz-sight I should have just bought a proper pair
Iโm trying really hard to get my life in order and lose weight. I hate sweet potatoes SO much, but Iโm so sick of zucchini and squash which Iโve been eating almost daily so I bought some. Iโve had them baked, mashed, casseroled, and with brown sugar on top but I gagged every time I ate them. I think it was a texture thing. I chopped them up and threw them in the oven with some olive oil and salt and pepper and guess what - I didnโt want to die eating them. I mean theyโre not my favorite, but Iโll eat them. I guess this means my mom is really terrible at cooking sweet potatoes.
