As we all know, tomatoes are very controversial as an organic good. With many arguments on whether it’s a fruit or a vegetable, there’s another point of view to be brought up: the equivalency of ketchup and tomato soup. While this can be a rather jarring statement, both foods (condiment and meal) have tomatoes as their main component. In fact, with a bit of work, you can turn one into the other. 

While questioning Deeksha Suthahar (26’), the daughter of a former garden-owning man, her troubles with the idea were “The texture, the taste, and the vibes.” Later in her statement, when faced with a counter-argument about whether those problems could be fixed with water and spices, she responded “Lowkey yeah.”  On the other hand, interviewees like Andrew Bush (25’) opposed the concept greatly, saying that ketchup has “vinegar…and vinegar makes it curdle” and that their “percentage of sugar is different,” along with other comments. Regarding Andrew’s points, vinegar simply “is essential for ketchup’s signature tanginess…[and] it elongates the shelf life” according to Allrecipes, and there is no evidence of it affecting any other components of ketchup chemical bonds. Furthermore, tomatoes themselves are acidic, so they would not be affected by the vinegar in that theoretical way. 

There is validity in the concern of sugar. Sofie Kosciow (27’) claimed that “If you take ketchup and change it into tomato soup […] the flavor of ketchup will always be there and you’ll always have the thought in the back of your head.” This problem can be solved by circling back to Deeksha’s agreement that spices and water can replicate ketchup to tomato soup and vice versa. Recipes from “Cooking with Alison,” “Kahakai Kitchen,” and various other cooking videos show this process as possible. 

The true dispute seems to be the social and moral connotations of what can only be described as the “undiscovered.” It can be said that new inventions are what led the colonies to become America, doubted and unlikely. This underdog story can be applied here: if not given a chance the world could miss out on something revelating.