An Ode to Ketchup
An Ode to Ketchup
Oh ketchup, red treasure, beloved and bold,
Why in Europe are you measured like gold?
We order our fries, our boys beam with delight,
Then groan at one packet? That can’t be right!
We’ve begged and we’ve paid, we’ve smiled and we’ve sighed.
But ketchup, dear ketchup, you can’t be denied.
So now in our daypack, you proudly reside,
Right next to the tissues and water inside.
To every cafe, you travel with flair,
Our trusty red hero, always prepared.
Dear Europe, you’re charming, but let’s make a deal:
Free the ketchup. Let us dip how we feel!
Traveling through Europe with kids means plenty of fun, new experiences—and, let’s be honest, a fair share of picky eating. Our kids aren’t the most adventurous eaters, but thankfully, pommes frites (a.k.a. French fries) are served everywhere. From Germany to Slovenia, France to Croatia, fries were the one menu item we could count on to keep everyone under the age of 15 happy.
Fries honestly saved us more times than we could count. The only hiccup? The ketchup situation.
In most places, a serving of fries comes with exactly one packet of ketchup and one packet of mayonnaise! That’s it. And while our kids were thrilled to see fries on the plate, the tiny packet of ketchup was often gone in two dips (and the mayo was regarded with disdain). Sometimes, you could ask for more, but not always for free. More than once, we paid a few extra Euros per packet just to avoid a fry related crisis.
So we relied on an old favorite — Aldi and bought our own bottle. Admittedly, we felt a little ridiculous pulling out a full-sized bottle from our bag at lunch, but it worked and avoided a lot of dinnertime drama.
Here’s a Croatian option — Ketch Up!
On later trips, we got even smart and ordered a bag of ketchup packets from Amazon and tucking a few into our bags each day became part of our routine, right along with sunscreen and hand sanitizer. Problem solved.
Did you know this was an option?
One of our favorite ketchup moments came in Austria. We were sitting at a beautiful outdoor café in a park with the most amazing natural playground with wooden climbing areas, a kid powered raft and plenty of room for the kids to run wild while we waited for food. As we sat down, the waiter walked over, took one look at us, and, with a grin and a wink, said, “You’re going to want this.” He placed an entire bottle of ketchup on our table. He was totally right, and we couldn’t stop laughing.
All fueled up with fries and plenty of ketchup! By the way, this is a very typical kids playground and one of the many reasons we recommend multi-generational travel in Tirol.
So yes, if your family travels with picky eaters, rest assured that fries are on the menu just about everywhere in Europe. Just don’t count on getting enough ketchup without a plan. Whether it’s a bottle from Aldi or some pre-packed packets from home, having a little stash in your bag might just save the day.
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you make a purchase. We only share products we actually use and love, like the ketchup that saved our sanity across Europe.
