Heinz is why ketchup seemed to become distinctly American.
Now, American ketchup is being targeted, both by the EU and Canada. The United States’ northern neighbor imposed a 10 percent tariff on the product in July, while the EU has suggested it would be a part of the next round of retaliatory tariffs, which could go into effect within weeks.
The EU’s threat is mostly symbolic because it is already a significant producer of ketchup – including by American brands like H.J. Heinz – and imports very little of the tomato condiment from the U.S. Canada, however, as recently as 2016 imported more than half of all the ketchup American companies send abroad.
In either case, at least part of the reasoning behind using it as a weapon in the growing trade war seems to be that ketchup, also spelled catsup, is one of those products that sounds distinctly American, poured generously on burgers and fries at baseball parks and Fourth of July barbecues across the U.S.
But in fact, the irony is that this ubiquitous condiment is anything but American in its origins or in those nationalities that love it the most. As a historian of food, I see it as a truly a global product, its origins shaped by centuries of trade. And different cultures have adopted a wide variety of surprising uses for the condiment we know as ketchup today.
