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At the turn of the 20th century, 12 young men sat in the basement of the Department of Agriculture, eating meals with a side of borax, salicylic acid, or formaldehyde. They were called the Poison Squad, and they were part of a government experiment to figure out whether popular food additives were safe. (Spoiler: Many weren’t.) Food manufacturers weren’t pleased with the findings, but one prominent ketchup maker paid attention. Influenced by these experiments, he transformed ketchup into the all-American condiment that we know and love today. Except ketchup—both the sauce and the word—isn’t from the United States. The story of America’s favorite condiment begins in East Asia.

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Guest:

Alan Lee is a freelance linguist and native Hokkien speaker.

Footnotes And Further Reading:

• The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum tells the very entertaining history of Harvey Wiley, the early days of food regulation in the United States, and, of course, the Poison Squad.
• Listen to an interview with Deborah Blum on Science Friday.
• The Language of Food by Dan Jurafsky is a word nerd’s dream, and contains more on ketchup’s early history. Special thanks to Dan Jurafsky for providing background information on the early history of ketchup for this episode.
• Can’t get enough ketchup? Check out Pure Ketchup: A History of America’s National Condiment With Recipes by Andrew F. Smith for all-things ketchup. 
• Learn more about ketchup’s early origins in Dan Jurafsky’s Slate article on “The Cosmopolitan Condiment.”

Credits:

Science Diction is hosted and produced by Johanna Mayer. Our editor and producer is Elah Feder. We had additional story editing from Nathan Tobey. Fact checking by Michelle Harris, with help from Danya AbdelHameid. Our Chief Content Officer is Nadja Oertelt. Daniel Peterschmidt is our composer, and they wrote our version of the “Song of the Poison Squad.” We had research help from Cosmo Bjorkenheim and Attabey Rodríguez Benítez. Sound design and mastering by Chris Wood.