Sweden’s King of Condiments – Ketchup Posted by Marcus Cederström on Apr 20, 2011 in Uncategorized
I love ketchup. Not love as in I make weird ketchup sandwiches every day, but I slather it on fries and burgers. Your standard ketchup vessels. It wasn’t until I left for college though that I realized my love of ketchup, and what I considered a suitable receiver of ketchup, differed from that of many Americans. I blame it on my Swedishness. And my father. He’s the Swedish one.
I put ketchup on meatballs. Not really all that out of the ordinary I don’t think. It’s just ground beef in ball form instead of patty form, either way, it is delicious. No one has actually complained about me putting ketchup on my meatballs before. Which I appreciate. Of course, I’ve never actually seen anyone in this country do it either.
People have complained about my potato eating habit though. Chopped up potatoes tossed into a skillet, pyttipanna if you will, is a delicious and surprisingly easy meal to throw together. Even for someone as culinarily (I think I just made that word up, but you know what I mean) inept as me. Chop up some potatoes, some ham, some onions, maybe a few other vegetables if you’re feeling healthy, and you’ve got yourself a delicious meal. One that is even more delicious smothered in ketchup. For some reason, people don’t approve. But those people don’t realize that chopped up potatoes in a frying pan are not a far cry from sliced potatoes in a deep fryer, i.e. French fries.
But it’s my use of ketchup and pasta that really fires people up. I put ketchup on spaghetti. I know. People are horrified. Let’s be honest here, it’s still tomato sauce. Kind of. This is pretty standard in Sweden. Macaroni and ketchup is the fare of students, and kids everywhere seem to love ketchup on their spaghetti. It just so happened that I am once again a student, and actually never grew out of my love of ketchup on spaghetti. Therefore, I am allowed to eat ketchup on my spaghetti.
What does this have to do with the Swedish language? Nothing. Except that the word for ketchup in Swedish is, yup, ketchup. And now you know.
Try some ketchup on your next plate of spaghetti and let us know how it went!
Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. Available anytime, anywhere, on any device.
About the Author: Marcus Cederström
Marcus Cederström has been writing for the Transparent Swedish Blog since 2009. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Oregon, a Master's Degree in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and a PhD in Scandinavian Studies and Folklore from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He has taught Swedish for several years and still spells things wrong. So, if you see something, say something.
Comments:
Christina:
Haha great post, I was certainly terified at what I had let myself in for when my swedish boyfriend slathered his plate of spaghetti in ketchup the first time, however I have come to realise its easy and pretty tasty!
zenobia:
ketchup for Swedes must be like sour cream for Hungarians, we put it on almost everything… yes, we eat spaghetti with sour cream, yumm:)
…but please, promise you will never ever eat goulash with ketchup, you will burn in the hell if you do that! 😛
Nikki:
Ketchup sandwiches aren’t weird! Try ketchup and cheese sandwiches; yummy! Or brown sauce is even better.
I have a habit of putting ketchup on noodles but I’m pretty European when I come to chips; it HAS to be mayonnaise.
Randy:
Scrambled eggs with elbow spaghetti is great with Ketchup as well.
J. Eric:
Well I just finished a bowl of spaghetti with Heinz Ketchup on it.
Sure enough, It tasted just like Ketchup Spaghetti.
I prefer my Spaghetti to taste like melting Parmesan Cheese.
But it was a tasty experiment!
Macaroni and cheese and Ketchup up next on the experimental table fare.
Kat:
I have been horrified at the notion of pasta plus ketchup ever since my Swedish boyfriend told me about it.
Yes, pasta sauce and ketchup both have tomatoes as the base ingredient, but the added seasonings give them completely different tastes.
I remain a normal American and reserve the ketchup for burgers, hot dogs, and fries. No experimenting for me!
Lena Lindblad:
Hej
liked the post 🙂
I never thought my ‘swedishness’ (both mamma and pappa are from sverige but I’m born in Australia)…had anything to do with my love of ketchup, well now I know.
I must have it on scrambled eggs and omelettes, pyttipanna, and if their is no gräddsås or lingon, of course I would smother my köttbullar in ketchup…nothing odd about it
Cheers
Moi:
What’s wrong with ketchup on pasta? Or on melted cheese sandwiches, or on quiches, or on scrambled eggs or on anything that deserves a bit of red colour… But mind you, it HAS to be ketchup and not tomato sauce…. Taste the difference… And long live ketchup!!
Erik NorCal:
My son came back from a year in Sweden and had this strange thing about meatballs with ketchup and spaghetti and princkorv with ketchup. The meatballs I could understand, but the spaghetti??? Eventually I tried it and it was surprisingly good! Have tried mayo on my pomme frites…give me ketchup please
McGee:
I may not be Swedish but I enjoy my spaghetti and ketchup (Heinz though). Though doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy spaghetti sauce.
Lisell:
Hi all! Liked the post as well. Spaghetti and ketchup doesn’t sound weird to me at all and it is known as the student’s meal in Estonia as well. And ‘praekartulid’ (or pyttipanna as I just found out) are one of my faves as well. I remember my granddad making them for us all the time when he was babysitting. It’s also considered a cheap and easy meal that even a lazy student can whip up. Although we sometimes ass eggs too.
Anyhow, my weird confession about ketchup is that I like to add it to potato salad (many nations have their own version of it, but it’s basically chopped up boiled potatos in a creamy sauce with other vegetables, eggs and sometimes even meat). Yumm….
Lisell:
oops! ‘We sometimes ADD’* 😛
Kenia:
I guess my swedish boyfriend is not so swedish after all when it comes to liking ketchup, he just doesn’t! At home it’s ME who puts ketchup on the spagettis if we don’t make a proper tomato sauce.
Marcus Cederström:
spaghetti with ketchup is just so delicious.