Bizzare Facts

Before it was America's favorite condiment, **ketchup** was sold as a potent pharmaceutical. In **1834**, an Ohio physician named **Dr. John Cook Bennett** declared that tomatoes were a powerhouse of health (which they are, containing lycopene) and could cure ailments like diarrhea, jaundice, and indigestion.

He concentrated the tomatoes into a pill form and marketed it as **'Tomato Pills'** or a medicinal extract. A 'ketchup craze' ensued, with people buying it not for their fries, but for their health. The fad eventually collapsed due to fraudulent copycats selling laxatives disguised as tomato pills, and ketchup returned to its rightful place as a tasty sauce, though the idea of it being 'good for you' wasn't entirely wrong.