The Doctor Said To Take Some Ketchup For That

In the 1830s, ketchup wasn’t something you put on food.

It was something you took for your health.

 

In 1834, an Ohio physician named John Cook promoted ketchup as a medical cure. Made primarily from tomatoes, it was prescribed for indigestion, upset stomachs, and other digestive complaints. Tomatoes were still viewed with suspicion by many Americans, but Cook believed they had powerful medicinal properties.

 

Pharmaceutical companies agreed.

 

Ketchup was sold in pill form. Advertisements promised relief from stomach problems and claimed the remedy was natural and effective. For a time, it was taken seriously.

 

Then the medicine wore off.

 

By the late nineteenth century, ketchup’s medical reputation faded. What survived was the flavor. As food preservation improved and tastes changed, ketchup found a new role—not in the medicine cabinet, but on the table.

 

The cure had been forgotten. The condiment became permanent.

 

Once upon a time, if your stomach hurt, the doctor might have told you to take ketchup.

 

And meant it.