Some cooks go nuts if you try to add salt and pepper or any kind of seasoning to the dishes they have prepared. These cooks think of themselves as artists and don’t believe we earthlings are qualified to mess with the dishes they have prepared. My mom had a more common-sense approach to this problem. She said to us and any newcomers to the table, “I have prepared a well-balanced meal that will maintain your good health. If you think that modifying the seasoning will give you greater pleasure, then that’s what you should do. The only thing of importance is that you eat the food.” She always had salt, pepper, butter, garlic powder, chili powder, relish, mayo, horse radish, Worcestershire sauce, and catsup available for those who wanted it.

I’ve noticed that some people are real snobs when it comes to catsup. Mom always had a bottle of catsup on the table and encouraged us to use it. We certainly did. For those of you not lucky enough to be raised in a catsup-household, I’ll list a few items that can benefit from that wonderful red stuff. If you start the day with bacon and eggs and hash browns, give those potatoes a big dollop, and if some slops over onto the eggs, it will jazz them up as well. Hamburgers, French fries, hot dogs, hash, roast beef, beef Stroganoff, chicken and noodles, navy beans, vegetable soup, chili, potato cakes and liver all taste better with catsup. My mom loved liver and insisted that we eat it to prevent anemia. Just looking at the stuff made me gag, but I learned that smothering it in catsup made it bearable.

Be creative and enjoy every meal.

Dave Thomas

11/6/2025