For topping French fries or cottage cheese, K rations or school lunches, ketchup has long been an American favorite. This book chronicles American milestones in ketchup history, including colonial adaptations of popular British mushroom, anchovy, & walnut ketchups, the rise of tomato-based ketchup, the proliferation of commercial bottling after the Civil War, debates over preservatives, the resurgence of homemade & designer varieties, & a recent challenge from salsa. The book starts out as a sweeping history -- ketchup in the ancient Mediterranean, ketchup evolving with the help of the British Empire -- but finds its stride in an amazing variety of fun historical nuggets about ketchup s evolution. Includes 110 historical recipes. Color illus.