Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The 1981 “Ketchup as a Vegetable” debacle rendered ketchup an indelible fixture in American political and culinary culture. In the Reagan administration’s attempt to slash $1.5 billion from children’s nutrition funding, school lunch program requirements were worded (whether deliberately or not) to conceivably allow for designating ketchup as a vegetable, permitting the USDA to eliminate one of the two vegetables required to meet minimum food and nutrition standards, and thus shrink costs considerably. Ketchup has long been associated with American cuisine, as a staple at the table, as a popular accompaniment to children’s meals, and even adopted for use as a sauce in cultures outside the United States. Nonetheless, within the span of weeks in this national incident, ketchup came to symbolize the malevolence of the economic policy of the Ronald Reagan presidency, even as it underscored the deep government indifference to children in lower-income and minority populations.</jats:p>