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That’s not what he talks about in the article. He talks about why ketchup only has one variety, compared to all the different kinds of mustard or spaghetti sauc
by empath75 8y ago
That’s not what he talks about in the article. He talks about why ketchup only has one variety, compared to all the different kinds of mustard or spaghetti sauces.
- klmr 8y agoIt’s ridiculously wrong though. Ketchup has tons of varieties, even if you only talk about tomato ketchup (which is not the only kind, although the vast majority). I can easily name more common varieties of tomato ketchup than of mustard. This seems kind of symptomatic of Gladwell’s writing, to be honest: fancy, convincing, but divorced from facts and true only in a limited, cherry-picked niche. In the context of evolutionary anthropology this is known as “just-so” stories. Fitting then, that Gladwell’s ketchup essay also contains a just-so stories. He just couldn’t resist.
- Grustaf 8y agoOnly one variety, in what way? Obviously all ketchup will have something in common, by definition, but the difference between different brands is huge. From the disgusting sweet smooth childrens variety at mcdonalds to chunky, spicy artisan catsups.
- empath75 8y agoThose artisan catsups weren’t around when he wrote the article 14 years ago.