For thirty years, elite French chefs have used bottled, mass-produced American ketchup as an ingredient in their sauces[1].
Clearly, there is nothing wrong with the fact that the product was mass-produced. Or that it contains preservatives. Or that it was processed. Or that it was produced by a corporation. Even foodies will agree Heinz is the best.* If you care about taste for the sake of taste, mass-produced ketchup is the way to go, assuming you are willing to trust the judgment of elite chefs.
So, why use mass-produced ketchup but not Velveeta cheese or Miracle Whip? Well it’s obviously not because Velveeta cheese and Miracle Whip are mass-produced, contain preservatives, were processed, or were produced by corporations! You don’t eat them because they don’t taste good and you are rich enough to eat higher quality cheese or actual mayo. Mass-produced ketchup isn’t evil. Neither are other mass-produced foods.
[1] Steingarten, Jeffrey. 1997. “Playing Ketchup.” In The Man Who Ate Everything. New York: Vintage. This was earlier an essay, probably published in Vogue, but I don’t have the book on me at the moment.
*If you want to point me to that dumbass Gladwell essay on the topic, please kindly leave.
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I have no idea what Gladwell essay you’re referring to, but I had this sudden urge to track it down and argue vociferously in its defense, whatever it said…
…lucky for all of us, the moment passed.