Ketchup & Choices

I am reading Malcolm Gladwell's delightful new book, "What the Dog Saw". Malcolm is the Tipping Point guy.

I just finished the chapter about Mustard and Ketchup. He answers the question, "Why is there eight types of mustard but only one type of ketchup?" It is a fun read, but half way through this story he mentions a study of why four year olds eat more ketchup than 40 year olds. He says that after 2 or 3 years old, children are instinctively resistant to trying new foods. Since four year olds have no choice on the food given them, they go with something they trust to make the "new food" better - ketchup.

That made me think and remember. For much of my life I preferred ketchup on green beans. My wife always raised an eyebrow to that. But as a kid, my mother always served green beans the same way - bland cut canned green beans. So I used ketchup. In later years everyone started preparing green beans in a variety of ways and more types of beans and forgot the habit.

As a kid I put ketchup on fried potatoes. Now, I prefer bar-b-que sauce on my fries.

I have branched out over the years trying new foods, new sauces, and new beans.

In some ways the use of ketchup was one of my first life choices!