I miss ketchup. In place of your usual Heinz 57, New Zealand substitutes tomato sauce. It is sweeter than ketchup because it is made without vinegar. No need to rush to the post office -- I can buy ketchup in the grocery store for home use. However, ketchup is MIA in restaurants, which means I cannot order a burger or any other food that should be served with ketchup. Tomato sauce is not disgusting, but it is unexpected enough to ruin a meal.Tomato sauce is always served in a tomato-shaped squeeze bottle (pictured above). This has unearthed a long-buried memory... my grandmother used to keep ketchup in a little plastic tomato. Does anyone else from Team Barrett remember this? This storage technique is especially surprising given my new knowledge that the tomato bottle is considered an "essential Kiwi item." I've seen greeting cards with a picture of the tomato bottle and the message: "It's a Kiwi thing." How did grandma get her hands on this Kiwi thing? Was this a bit of foreshadowing in my childhood? Has New Zealand always been my destiny?
4 comments:
Strangely I DO remember the tomato squeeze bottle. I also remember diet pepsi that was several years old (because nothing would get thrown away) and miracle whip in a glass with a lid on it as opposed to the miracle whip jar.
Forcing a guess on the tomato bottle would have to be something to do with the strange Irish, English, Australia, New Zealand connection. I don't know exactly how it got there, but it does make me long for my own tomato shaped ketchup bottle.
I remember it as well. The thing that I do remember is that even when I was young it seemed kind of wierd/gross becuase I think she poured it in there.
Jim
Don't you think Heinz et al took their cue from these bottles & created the present squeeze bottles we buy now?
During a visit to Australia/New Zealand 15 years ago, my quick impression was that Australia was 1 decade & new Zealand 2 decades behind the US in many ways --esp. retail. So that puts you back in the 80's at Grandmom's table -- and hanging out the wash!
Can there be a hidden Gay Store nearby?
Don't forget the yellow tomato for the mustard.
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