Jo's Blog

I don't really like ketchup very much. I only ever eat it with a burger and I don't eat them very often. I am not one of those people who ruins a perfectly good portion of chips by smothering them in red sauce. Mayonnaise is the only sensible thing to eat with chips in my opinion. But I have started letting the twins have a bit of ketchup or 'dip, dip' as they like to call it. I only pop it on their plates if they are having a ketcup designed dinner - fish fingers, chicken nuggets for example. They don't get it on a plate of roast chicken.

However I have noticed something interesting this lunchtime. There has been slightly less protest over eating vegetable because they've dipped them in ketchup. They've also eaten all their chicken and bread too. But does the evil of ketchup - sugar and artificial things - negate the benefit of broccoli and carrots I wonder? How bad is ketchup in the scheme of things?

Follow up:

Now husband would argue that Marmite really is evil. Darling son and I disagree. What about ketchup? I know that their tummy-mummy was a real ketchup fiend so perhaps it is in the genes? I guess as with all these things the secret is in moderation. Ketchup with some things, not others. But if I can get them to eat broccoli with ketchup then perhaps I am on to a winner?

Perhaps what I need to do is design some other vegetable based dip dip sauces which then means they eat vegetables in disguise. Now why didn't I think of this before? Perhaps a little avocado mushed up to dip chicken nuggets in. I guess Annabel Karmel has already thought of this though. But I guess the true attraction of ketchup is that is sweet. And I guess dipping vegetables in sugar is not a good way of getting them to eat more vegetables? Hmm - I will continue to ponder.