In 1981, the Reagan administration in the USA tried to classify ketchup as a vegetable to meet school lunch nutritional standards after cutting budgets. The backlash slogan "Is ketchup a vegetable?" became so powerful that the policy was reversed.
The word 'ketchup' comes from '膎汁' (kôe-chiap) in the Chinese Min Nan dialect, meaning 'fish sauce.' It was originally a fermented fish and shellfish sauce—tomato ketchup was not invented until 1812.