The Contemplative Expat: Would You Like Some Ketchup with that?

Just the other day, my family and I visited a new Burger King that had opened here in Hadano. I hadn’t been to a Burger King in a very, very long time. They existed back in Canada, of course, but as a child I always thought of Burger King as the grown-up fast-food chain. It didn’t have toys in its kids’ meals, and for some reason that impression stayed with me throughout my life.

Fast forward to today. I ordered the criminally expensive Whopper set while my family made their own selections. When the order was ready, I walked up to the counter, and then the moment happened.

“Would you like ketchup with that?” asked the clerk.

In Japanese, of course, but I understood perfectly.

“Yes!” I replied, rather more enthusiastically than the occasion probably deserved.

Once I sat down at the table, I found myself staring at the small packets of ketchup in front of me.

You see, dear reader, this is the question associated with fast food. I had somehow forgotten about it.

I know convenience stores sometimes ask if you want ketchup and mustard with an American corn dog. Occasionally they’ll ask when you order fries. Sometimes.

But in more than 25 years, I honestly can’t remember the last time someone asked me, “Would you like ketchup with that?”

Such a common phrase. Such ordinary everyday language. Yet somehow it had disappeared from my life.

In the end, you may wonder whether I actually ate my fries with ketchup. It sounds like a strange question given that I had enthusiastically said yes.

But I didn’t.

I took the packets home.

We don’t even keep a bottle of ketchup in the house. None of us uses it very often, and it isn’t something that’s freely offered all that much anymore. Except at Burger King, apparently.

Perhaps one day I’ll use those packets.

Or maybe that isn’t the point.

Was ketchup so popular in North America because it saturated every corner of fast-food culture, restaurant dining, and family meals, much like soy sauce does here in Japan?

Or have my tastes simply changed to the point where French fries no longer need anything added to them? Perhaps the fries themselves are enough.

Sometimes being an expat is confusing.