Remember back when Smucker’s released their peanut butter and jelly swirled together in one jar? Dubbed Smucker’s Goober, a goober is exactly what you’d feel like once you dipped your knife in and realized your first use turned the whole thing into a swamp. Well another company is trying their luck with the fickle gods of two-in-one pantry products and it has the internet pretty worked up. Enter: Heinz Mayochup. So what is Mayochup and why do people care so much? We break it down.
The Mayochup product is already available through part of the Middle East, but Heinz took to Twitter to ask directly whether there was interest in a “U.S. debut.” The response they got was probably more heated than they anticipated for a pretty plain addition to the condiment aisle.
What is Heinz Mayochup, anyway?
Heinz Mayochup is exactly what its not-so-creative portmanteau name suggests: mayonnaise and ketchup in one bottle. It’s making its U.S. debut later this year, and Heinz claims on their website that “bottles will be available in 2018.”
Depending on the price point, the two-in-one sauce could actually save you money at the grocery store if you’re a fan of both ketchup and mayo on your sandwiches — as long as you didn’t plan on adding either sauce individually to another dish. As you would expect, it’s a light sort-of pink color, and Heinz appear to be planning to sell it in squeezable bottles for easy application on your bread. Friends who like their fries dipped in mayo and ketchup take note, since this product is seriously going to enable your ways.
How to buy Heinz Mayochup
Although it was recently announced that bottles will hit U.S. store shelves featuring the name they’ve been going with all along, Heinz Mayochup, the company did ask for submissions for other ideas on what to call the hybrid condiment. They currently have 98 of those names featured on their site where, at some point, you’ll be able to order the bottles online labelled with your prefered name.
The names run the gamut from simple, like variations on “Mayochup” “Ketch-O” and “Machup,” to out-of-the-box choices like “Heinz The Sauce Is Boss.” Some people used the color as their inspiration, although they couldn’t agree on what hue fit the Heinz product, so there’s both “Golden Sauce” and “Pink Sauce.” Our favorite, though, has to be the deliciously dramatic “It’s FRY SAUCE You Monsters.”
So why are people worked up about Mayochup?
On the surface level, people excited for the Heinz Mayochup U.S. launch are seriously confused about the name. Nicole Kulwicki, director of marketing for Heinz, claimed that America would get to pick the name printed on bottles if they hit the 500,000 retweets needed to prove The States was all in for a debut of the sauce. As we mentioned before, 98 names for the sauce are up on the Heinz website. So how exactly did they end up right back where they started with “Heinz Mayochup”? The world may never know.
Others are upset about what they see as a cultural issue. Some in the Latin American community think Heinz is trying to take credit for the “debut” of a condiment that they’ve been using for ages. Mixing the two sauces is nothing new in Latin American cuisine, The Independent notes. Many Caribbean and Puerto Rican dishes are doused in the delicious sauce, though it’s sometimes dressed up with garlic or adobo seasoning, and people were quick to tweet these facts at Heinz.
In Puerto Rico it’s called “MayoKetchup” and it’s EVERYWHERE. Delicious on anything, but especially tostones. MayoChup is a weird choice.
— Sr. Allen (@SoboSpanish) April 18, 2018
I don’t mind if @HeinzKetchup_US decides to make MayoKetchup. What I do mind is the promotion it’s getting as if it were some innovative thing. In Puerto Rico we literally put MayoKetchup on everything. I still wouldn’t buy your “MayoChup”. It doesn’t even have garlic… Rookies
— Francisco Sepúlveda (@frankiko001) April 14, 2018
WTF?!?! Is a Mayochup?!?! This isn’t new at all in Puerto Rico we have been eating this for year’s and I been eating “Mayochup” ever since I can remember! And it’s not called “Mayochup” It’s called MayoKetchup!!!! pic.twitter.com/w6clFQ223k
— ??아미 + GZB (@Kelly81346090) April 13, 2018
Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox also took to Twitter to make it clear another population isn’t happy about Hainz claiming this condiment territory: the people of Utah. “Look @HeinzKetchup_US, you might not care what a Lt. Governor thinks (or, like most people, what a Lt. Governor even is), but don’t make me bring @JimGaffigan into this #mayochup debate,” he wrote. “It’s called FRY SAUCE.”
Look @HeinzKetchup_US, you might not care what a Lt. Governor thinks (or, like most people, what a Lt. Governor even is), but don’t make me bring @JimGaffigan into this #mayochup debate. It’s called FRY SAUCE. #DoTheRightThing #FrySauceGate pic.twitter.com/oPCRKO95c8
— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) April 13, 2018
Residents weren’t far behind in their anger if this girl’s tweet is accurate:
My mom emailed me screenshots of the Heinz Mayochup with the caption “cultural appropriation of Utah”
— Shelley Jones (@ShelleytheJonas) May 6, 2018
Time-saving condiment or cultural appropriation? Opinions seem to run the full spectrum. No matter the culture it belongs to, it’s up to you to decide if the sauce deserves space on your refrigerator shelf.
