An alchemist in the kitchen

October 5, 2022 9:07 AM

Maria Ylagan Orosa, the inventor of banana ketchup, gets an obituary via the NYTimes Overlooked series. Original paywalled NY Times link

Banana ketchup goes very well on top of Spam, egg, and rice, if this has made you hungry.

posted by PussKillian (7 comments total)

Thanks for this! I grabbed a bottle recently because I had never had it.
posted by ITravelMontana at 12:40 PM on October 5, 2022

YESS! Banana ketchup is good with dumplings of all kinds; potato cheese pierogis and Jufran hot & spicy is a favorite of mine. It's great as a wing sauce, either chicken or tofu; it's got a very smooth nearly creamy texture, with a kick, so it's kind of a terrific bridge between ketchup and hot sauce. Fried chicken, tempura veg, slather on roasted sweet potatoes for a salad. It's really good on a simple fish sandwich instead of mayo/tartar. And noodles, oh boy, noodles.
Thank you Ms Orosa, for your wonderful food inventions.
But, CW: do not read to the end of the article if you're not able to hear about another U.S. wartime tragedy.
posted by winesong at 3:20 PM on October 5, 2022

Wow, what an amazing story.
posted by haptic_avenger at 4:25 PM on October 5, 2022

This is fucking awesome. What an amazing person.
posted by kittensofthenight at 4:51 PM on October 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Little known fact: it wasn't the Japanese who destroyed Manila at the end of World War II, it was the Americans.
posted by micketymoc at 8:06 PM on October 5, 2022

Ok, now I really have to try this.
posted by freakazoid at 4:51 AM on October 6, 2022

Very interesting story and what a hero Ms Orosa was.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:37 AM on October 6, 2022