Ketchup

What can a bottle of ketchup do? Surprisingly enough, a lot! Recently, I happened to taste the new Heinz organic tomato ketchup at a friend's house and loved the taste. It took me back to my childhood days in India when ketchup was ketchup. This ketchup had a fresh flavor and truly added a whole other dimension to the accompanying samosas. Anyone who grew up in India in the 70's and 80's will relate to this- it had the delicious taste akin to Kissan  tomato ketchup, which was a staple in most households and went into everything from curries to soups. Right there and then I made up my mind that I was NEVER going to use the regular ketchup and especially not the bulk Heinz from Sam's club. I was going to go for "real" food as much as I could.

It also got me thinking about our food in general. Food has slowly become a hassle- something to get done with as quickly as possible, with convenience being the main driver. This has led to us buying in bulk, preparing in bulk and maybe even eating in bulk. But what if we all just stopped to look, and really see what real fruits and vegetables are?  We may discover a whole new dimension of color, flavor and form, and something that we can enjoy working with.

So what can a bottle of ketchup do- take you down memory lane, make you think about what you eat and maybe even encourage you to re-discover the joy of cooking and eating fresh.