What Your Favorite Condiment Reveals About You

[Gifted Gourmet]

the story on condiments ...

ATLANTA – A new survey commissioned by The Association for Dressings and Sauces reveals some interesting facts about consumers and condiment sauces, including salsa, salad dressing and mayonnaise. In the recent survey of 1,000 Americans, salsa and ketchup tied for the “favorite” condiment with mayonnaise, salad dressing and barbecue sauce close behind.

Read on to learn what your favorite condiment sauce represented by The Association for Dressings and Sauces says about you ..

Personalities are based upon the love of: salsa, mayonnaise, barbecue, hot sauces, salad dressings, and horseradish ...

Didn't even think there might be an Association for Dressings and Sauces ... who knew??

while not too scientific, but then what is?, this made for a pleasurable read ...

[tommy]

i'm in the risk-loving group of condiment users.

[Gifted Gourmet]

i'm in the risk-loving group of condiment users.

Good! Definitely not a Sara Moulton!! wrong quiz ...

[tryska]

i'm so butch. i'm a risk-taker too.

[chile_peppa]

Hot Sauce Gourmets: If you are a man aged 18-34 living in the south or west, you probably prefer hot sauce to all other condiment sauces. You likely have 3 bottles of it on hand and are a competitive risk-taker. Nearly half of the hot sauce lovers surveyed prefer social activities such as hanging out with friends or family over all other activities. These guys are probably the life of the party, too-- Hot Sauce lovers rated themselves as more happy, ambitious, spontaneous and risk-loving than other condiment users.

Well, dang. I have about 5 bottles of hot sauce in the fridge, some more in the pantry. There goes that masculine side rearing its ugly head again... (yes, I really do have two X chromosomes!)

[bleachboy]

Mayonnaise has more appeal for women, and they are directionally more likely to use it, and use it more frequently, than men. Half of the consumers who named mayonnaise as their favorite condiment are introverted and are less likely to be competitive, athletic or risk-takers, while the other half rated themselves as the most ambitious of all condiment devotees. As such, mayo buffs are equally split between being social butterflies and leisure-lovers. Twenty-five percent of those surveyed use mayonnaise more often than any other condiment.

I must be lame. Actually, I can't get enough of mayonnaise, whereas my wife pretty much hates it. Seriously, I'll put mayo on just about anything if given half a chance.

However, I'm definitely introverted and less likely to be athletic for sure. Dunno about the risk-taker part, but this study actually seems to have at least a little merit for me.

[tommy]

i'm in the risk-loving group of condiment users.

Good! Definitely not a Sara Moulton!! wrong quiz ...

oddly, perhaps, i came out as "sara" as well.

[Al_Dente]

What about mustard?

I love a good mustard-- no, not that neon yellow stuff.

[naguere]

Fresh made condiments, even if it is only black pepper.

How can anything in a bottle be as good as freshly squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, salt, the list goes on...

[tommy]

How can anything in a bottle be as good as freshly squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, salt, the list goes on...

freshly squeezed sriracha is really good too.

[johnnyd]

freshly squeezed sriracha is really good too.

You just like that crazy pharting sound that nozzle makes on the rebound, dontcha?!

But seriously folks, I'm with naguere: the fresher the better. I've been grinding my own barbecue spices lately and the difference is humongous.

Edited August 4, 2004 by johnnyd (log)

[GG Mora]

Hot Sauce Gourmets: If you are a man aged 18-34 living in the south or west, you probably prefer hot sauce to all other condiment sauces. You likely have 3 bottles of it on hand and are a competitive risk-taker. Nearly half of the hot sauce lovers surveyed prefer social activities such as hanging out with friends or family over all other activities. These guys are probably the life of the party, too-- Hot Sauce lovers rated themselves as more happy, ambitious, spontaneous and risk-loving than other condiment users.

Well, dang. I have about 5 bottles of hot sauce in the fridge, some more in the pantry. There goes that masculine side rearing its ugly head again... (yes, I really do have two X chromosomes!)

Yeah, but how many bottles in the glove compartment?

[tommy]

But seriously folks, I'm with naguere: the fresher the better.

i am serious. but i'll send you a 10-spot if you send me a small bottle from your next batch of fresh-homemade sriracha. deal?

[andiesenji]

Lordy, lordy, lordy, GG. You have yet again come up with a great topic.

That being said, I have no idea where I fit in the scheme of things, being a universal condiment fancier. You know of course that I make my own mustards, ketchups, salsas, chutneys, sambals and hot sauces.

I also "collect" a great many odd and interesting condiments, including all of the above.

Also people send me things. Sometimes very odd things.

A chef friend sent me a sort of mustard/pepper/curry and something else sauce from South Africa called "Mother-In-Law's Tongue" Isn't that a great name? (I had sent him a bunch of Chile Tepin and Chile Pequin I had picked and dried.)

I have no idea how many hot sauces I have but let us just say that when I visit a shop that specializes in these I stock up........ usually buying duplicates just in case they decide to discontinue one and I will have a backup if I use the first one up.

For a time I had a neat cabinet in the hall next to kitchen that had narrow shelves, just one bottle deep, for display purposes. That has long since been filled and the excess racked in old plastic milk crates in the pantry.

I love shops where they let you taste the samples. At one shop they offered me a little wicker basket about 8 inches square in which to put my selections. Instead I went out to my van and brought in MY shopping basket which would hold several of those little ones. At one of the Firey Foods shows I attended a few years ago, I took my folding wheeled shopping basket. By the third day of the show some of the vendors were coming out to meet me when they saw me coming down the aisles.

If I were forced to flee the house and was told I could only take one condiment with me, I would probably have to be dragged out by force because it would be impossible for me to make a decision about something that important in the little time allowed.

I love them all, sometimes in combination. Talk about your fusion cuisine.............

An Indonesian sambal mixed with a grainy mustard and then evened out with home made mayonnaise makes for a unique and delicious condiment to use in a sandwich with meat, cheese, etc.

[GG Mora]

Hmph. No mention of ajvar? I keep both spicy and mild on hand. Grilled cheese with ajvar. Meat loaf sandwich with ajvar. Ajvar & chevre omelette. Yup. Ajvar.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Lordy, lordy, lordy, GG. You have yet again come up with a great topic.

It isn't like I actually have a life, you realize!

[tryska]

andiesenji - i've been meaning to ask you for a while - what exactly do you do? do you live on a farm? do you have a business? you're like the home-makingest poster on here. i think it's fabulous!

[bergerka]

Well, I'm a woman, whereas apparently most bbq lovers are men...but this is pretty much me.

"Barbecue sauce users are more extroverted than other condiment lovers and describe themselves as more creative, competitive, athletic and witty than any of the other condiment users."

K

[alacarte]

What about mustard?

I love a good mustard-- no, not that neon yellow stuff.

It's on the list, but that section is formatted wrong, so it's easy to miss.

But...WHERE'S KETCHUP? That's my favorite condiment by far, and it's woefully missing from the list. Am I expected to eat my french fries au naturel?

[andiesenji]

This is way OT but since you asked - - I will try to be a brief as possible.

I work for an orthopedic surgeon but only work two or three days a week, we do med-legal evaluations on work comp injuries. He hasn't done surgery for several years. I manage the office of which we sublease most of to three other doctors. (It takes up most of one floor in a 6-story medical building). I help manage their staff and handle their computer problems.

I do all the transcription for my boss but since I type well over 100 wpm it doesn't take me long. I also do all the bookkeeping, for both the business and his personal stuff, much of which I can do from home. I live 70 miles from work so he doesn't care if I work from home as long as I get all the work done.

I live on slightly less than two acres in a semi-rural area in Lancaster, Ca. This is the "high" desert, over 2000 ft altitude so we do not get as hot as down around Palm Springs in the summer and get a lot colder in winter, well below freezing.

I was born and raised on a farm (65 years ago) and love to do all the traditional cooking, canning, drying, preserving, bread-baking, cheesemaking and so on. I like to experiment with doing things in a non-traditional way to make it easier and faster, i.e., preserves in the microwave, candied peel in the microwave, etc.

I have a very large garden and a smaller kitchen garden next to the house in addition to a fairly large greenhouse. I can no longer handle all the gardening myself but have a great gardener who works three days a week and several very kind neighbors who are more than happy to help out in return for produce and various things I make.

In my immediate area people have horses, cows, goats, sheep, llamas, ostrich, emu, gineau fowl, chickens and wildfowl. The only animals not allowed are pigs (except for pets).

I "rent" sheep to keep the front lawn "mowed" and gineau fowl to "work" the big garden for bugs.

New acquaintances are always surprised that I cook so much when I live alone but after they have experienced one of our neighborhood gatherings, they understand. I have a vast array of friends with whom I exchange various items I produce and I test recipes for friends who are chefs, bakers, etc. It saves them time and it is fun for me. (I worked as a personal chef in my "free" time for many years.)

I started a thread on making condiments in the home. I grow my own mustard and prepare a basic one that can have all kinds of additions to suit just about every taste.

I grow a lot of different kinds of hot peppers and make all kinds of salsas and sauces in addition to collecting commercial ones.

[chile_peppa]

Yeah, but how many bottles in the glove compartment?

Of the Mustang or the pickup truck? Oh wait a minute, bottles of what?

I've even been known to make my own hot sauces from homegrown peppers...

Edited to add:

Ack -- I posted right on top of andiesenji's reply. Girl, you sound like a woman after my own heart! I live in the big city now, but some of the country comes out in me now and then.

Edited August 4, 2004 by chile_peppa (log)

[tryska]

thank you so much for appeasing my curiosity andiesenji. you go! i wish i had the time, wherewithal, knowledge, and oh yeah - land to do the stuff you get to do. martha would be jealous.

[Gifted Gourmet]

And more on the condiment quiz, you people ... topic du jour ...

anyone else check out their personal results??

[Squeat Mungry]

i'm in the risk-loving group of condiment users.

I thought condiments were used to REDUCE risk. Oh. Condiments. Never mind. Yeah, I like hot sauce, too!

[andiesenji]

But...WHERE'S KETCHUP? That's my favorite condiment by far, and it's woefully missing from the list. Am I expected to eat my french fries au naturel?

Ketchup tied for FAVORITE with salsa!