pardon me...no ketchup?

            It was the first day of classes and I had successfully made it to all of my classes on time and I didn’t cry—not even once. It was just about noon and with a smile on my face and pride in my Canuck heart, I ventured into my college’s food court to pick up a bag of my favorite snack.

Still fresh across the border, I wanted something that reminded me of the Great White North. So I scurried over to a great wall of chips and then, just like a densely packed snowball, it hit me—the U.S. doesn’t have ketchup chips.

            I have been at an American college for about two semesters now, and frankly I’d be lying if I said that I’m okay with the fact that ketchup chips do not exist in the U.S.  

When I tell my American friends about these fabulous morsels of tangy-salty delight, I am laughed at, scolded at, or just plain ignored. It’s almost like I have just told them that I have a pet dragon, or that a #15 seed could beat the #2 seed in March Madness…

Anyways, what really irks me about this absence of ketchup chips during my freshman year is that ketchup itself is a staple part of the American diet. With this being said, how on earth did the flavor barbeque surpass ketchup? I mean there are probably hundreds of different types of barbeque chips—yet there is not one, measly variety of ketchup chips.

There are honey barbeque chips, hot and spicy barbeque chips, sweet southern heat barbeque chips, mesquite barbeque chips, hickory barbeque chips, barbeque Cheetos, barbeque flavour twist Fritos—well, I think you get the point.

For a nation that proudly boasts the best in fast food cuisine, I think it is time that we take a step back from barbeque. Not only as a Canadian, but as a global citizen, I think it is time that the U.S. gives a little more attention to the condiment that really started it all—ketchup.