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[[File:TT Włocławek.png|thumb|upright|Strawberry and and red-currant-flavoured ketchups made in Poland. Source: Twitter.]]
In August last year, a Polish news portal published an article entitled [https://finanse.wp.pl/truskawkowy-keczup-od-firmy-wloclawek-internauci-w-szoku-6412050532366465a "Strawberry Ketchup from Włocławek: Internet Users in Shock".] As usual in modern journalism, the article was based entirely on two tweets. [https://twitter.com/michaljadczak/status/1160165241117970432 One of them,] by Mr. Michał Jadczak, was contained a picture of two red plastic bottles with labels reading, in Polish, "Ketchup with strawberries" and "Ketchup with red currants". The pictured picture was captioned: "Scandal! Sacrilege! The end is nigh..:/". Many In their comments, many Twitter users confirmed in expressed their comments that they were shocked by the news that the dismay at someone's nerve to adulterate ketchup with fruits of a plant plants other than tomato were added to ketchup. Some linked this scandal with to the momentous fact that Włocławek-brand ketchup is was actually no longer made in the town of Włocławek (pronounced ''vwawts-{{small|WAH}}-veck'').
If you, too, are shocked by strawberry ketchup, then what would you say to mushroom ketchup? Or walnut ketchup? Oyster ketchup, anyone? It turns out that the origin of this condiment is no less ancient than that of mustard, but while we would easily recognize ''mustum ardens'' from centuries ago as mustard, we would be hard pressed to recognize original ketchup as ketchup. It has come a long way to become the uniform, thick, red, sweet tomato sauce we know today.
Ketchup began its career somewhere in Southeast Asia as… fish sauce. It was originally made by salting fish blood and innards, as well as whole fish that were too small for any other use, and leaving the whole mess to ferment. The smell must have been overwhelming, but only at the beginning of the process. As the mixture was fermenting, the scent and the taste were becoming milder and more palatable. The liquid thus obtained was a natural source of monosodium glutamate; in other words, a kind of ancient Maggi seasoning. In the Chinese dialect spoken in northern Vietnam, this sauce was called "''kê-tsiap''".
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[[File:Stanisław Fenrych.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Stanisław Fenrych (1883–1955), founder of the Pudliszki food-processing company]]
That's not to say ketchup wasn't increasingly advertised in Interbellum Poland itself. What's more, this is when it certain pioneers started to complement the supply of imported ketchup with domestic production. The first man to manufacture tomato ketchup on a commercial scale in Poland was Stanisław Fenrych. In 1919, he purchased an estate in the Greater Poland village of Pudliszki (pronounced ''pood-{{small|LEESH}}-kee'') where he set up orchards, vegetable gardens and a factory to turn the produce into marmelades, jams and preserves. According to Pudliszki corporate lore, his neighbours expected that pears would sooner grow on a willow tree than his business venture would become profitable, so he defiantly put a pear-bearing willow in his company's logo and soon proved them wrong. In 1927, Fenrych his advisors to Britain to obtain tomato seeds, believing that British varieties would do well in Polish climate. The advisors brought back not only the seeds, but also a recipe for tomato ketchup. Its industrial production began in Pudliszki in the following year. In 1929, the business was visited by Polish President Igancy Mościcki; at a dinner given in his honour, he was served hard-boiled eggs with ketchup as a starter.<ref>{{Cyt
