Why Do French Restaurants Say ‘No’ to Ketchup?

Major restaurants in France do not use ketchup as a way to protect the sophistication of French cuisine, which is considered the country’s pride.

The French are proud of their culinary heritage, viewing food as a long-standing cultural tradition. The French-style meal has been included in UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

The French eat three meals a day at fixed times and meals can last for hours, unlike the fast-paced eating habits of Americans. The French see meals as a time for community bonding, with food tied to joy, rather than the American view of food as “fuel.” Therefore, they are somewhat strict about how they enjoy their food, especially traditional dishes. This includes having rules about which sauces to pair with a dish.

At many restaurants across France, especially those serving traditional and fine dining, requesting ketchup, a sauce of American origin, is considered to “ruin” a carefully prepared dish and “offend” the chef. Ketchup has a strong flavor that can overpower the main dish, which is something chefs want to avoid. French cuisine focuses on preserving the natural flavors of the ingredients, especially in main dishes made from meat like beef, chicken, and duck. Using ketchup is similar to requesting a change to the ingredients when the dish has a fixed recipe.

Many French people and restaurants object to ketchup because these cultural norms and rules are deeply ingrained.

“My daughter once asked for ketchup for her traditional French duck confit. This is a dish prepared with great care, so the idea of adding ketchup was rejected,” a Parisian shared on a Quora forum.

The specific reaction to ketchup will depend on the restaurant and staff. At high-end restaurants, the staff might maintain a polite attitude but subtly show annoyance or look at you with a surprised expression. Meanwhile, at more casual eateries or tourist-friendly locations, the request for ketchup might be accommodated.

Ben Lawton, who has over 10 years of experience working in French restaurants, said that when he receives a ketchup request from a customer, he and other servers have various ways of reacting. As a server, they are responsible for making the customer happy, but not at the expense of the dish’s quality.

“We might politely bring a very small amount of ketchup. But we might also tactfully tell the customer that the restaurant doesn’t have ketchup, suggest some other distinctive sauces, and bring them out if the customer wants,” Lawton said.

But ketchup also has an exception in France, and french fries can be considered the only legitimate food to have with ketchup. Still, in most restaurants, french fries are often carefully prepared and served with traditional sauces like mayonnaise, béarnaise, or simply a little salt to enhance their natural flavor.

In 2011, the French government banned ketchup in school canteens, with the exception of serving it with french fries, to encourage healthy eating habits, on the grounds that ketchup’s high sugar and salt content is detrimental to children’s health.

Regarding the school canteen ban, Mr. Christophe Hebert, President of the French Association of Restaurants, once said: “It is necessary to get children used to ingredients and how to enjoy traditional French food so they can pass it on to the next generation. Children currently tend to use ketchup to mask the flavor of what they are eating.”

Although traditional French cuisine is not accustomed to using ketchup, one of France’s most famous chefs, Jacques Pépin, is known for praising its versatility as a foundational ingredient for sauces, enriching flavors, and adding heat with components like sriracha or tabasco to balance the sweetness. Recently, he has suggested using homemade or high-quality ketchup in moderation, recognizing its potential to elevate a dish rather than overpower its flavor.

(According to Tasting Table)