&gt; Regarding the tenuous connection between tomatoes &amp; ketchup, a friend of mine once posed me the question: &quot;have you ever tasted a tomato that tasted anything like ketchup?&quot;.<p>Ketchup evolved as an English approximation of a Southeast Asian pickled-fish-based condiment which ended up using mushrooms and later tomatoes because of availability. Its not really intended to taste like tomatoes, its supposed to use tomatoes and other ingredients to taste like something almost completely unlike tomatoes.