So why are we so drawn to umami flavors? Well, Gibson said, because they help enhance the profile of a variety of other flavors we enjoy in a dish or beverage. "Unami provides depth and creates harmony by — as the Japanese translation suggests — contributing 'deliciousness," he said. Of course, no wash is complete without a good conditioner. This is where my all-time favorite conditioner came to the rescue to keep my hair feeling luscious and soft — Kerastase! After a good shower, my hair didn’t smell and it was most definitely not red! In fact, it almost looked more brilliantly blonde. I attributed that to the fact that my hair no longer had a “muddy” or dirty blonde look with the green masking over it.

Unami creates a Miraculin effect, where flavors usually perceived in one way may be experienced differently, sometimes even opposingly to their original state," Gibson said. "Although it can be challenging to work with in some flavor combinations, unami can function to mask off-notes, reduce bitterness and enhance sweetness in a variety of food and beverage products." This was my hair before the ketchup. In natural lighting, it wasn’t too bad, but it still appeared “muddy”. In fluorescent lighting where I work however, the green tone was much stronger and very noticeable. I had someone even comment on it, which is not okay by the way. Here is what I did to fix my green hair! As their trade routes widened, so did the knowledge of the sauce, until it finally landed in Britain in the 18th century by way of British traders who were posted up in the Philippines, where banana ketchup is still a staple. (Keep an eye out for our deep dive into that soon.) There, British home cooks made variations on the paste featuring celery, mushrooms, nuts, oysters and stone fruit. The end results differed wildly, but the goal was the same — to create a flavorful, pungent sauce that could keep for a long time and augment meals at a time when household spices were still a luxury and to help stretch less than choice cuts of meat, especially if they were on the verge of going bad. I found out from this experience that you can’t just put Ketchup in your hair and wash it out with water. I went through my entire hair washing process — and then some — to get it out! The Ketchup goop washed out easily and didn’t leave a mess in the tub, however, my two big concerns from my questions above were still on my mind. It's enmeshed enough in the fabric of American dining that it's the subject of multiple " Seinfeld" riffs. "Do you have a ketchup secret?" Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) coos to Russell Dalryple (Bob Balaban) in the show's fourth season. The following season, George (Jason Alexander) informs his parents after they criticize the amount of ketchup he's using that "this is my ketchup. I bought this ketchup just so I could have as much as I want."But it’s not all indifference: Murakami loves his shirts, so much so that he’s releasing a book called Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love. (Tip: if you’re trying to claim indifference about something, don’t release a book with a subtitle that says you love it.) In The New Yorker yesterday, Murakami discussed one of his favorite shirts, red with a Heinz ketchup label that says “I PUT KETCHUP ON MY KETCHUP.” Apparently, the shirt’s a hit with Americans Murakami encounters:

That savory flavor, also described as umami, is inherent to tomatoes and some historic ketchup ingredients, such as fish, mushrooms, oysters and nuts. And it's a subtle component, but one that enhances the flavors around it, according to Tom Gibson, a flavor scientist with the Louisville-based food and beverage consulting firm Flavorman. But the point remains the same — at a certain point, for some, ketchup lost its love-apple luster. This plays out in current market data: Ketchup's profits have stayed pretty flat for the last five years, as cult condiments like sriracha and endless variations of age-old standards — avocado oil mayonnaise, garlic mayonnaise, chipotle mayonnaise, Kewpie mayonnaise — now line the grocery store shelves. At first this option feels a bit boring, a bit too stereotypical for me, besides my diabeetus goes insane with both fries and ketchup. Haruki Murakami is a collector: of vinyl records, T-shirts, and short stories ( ha ha ha). He’s donated his collection of over 10,000 vinyl records to Waseda University, but keeps his T-shirts in cardboard boxes at his home. According to Murakami, his collection came about somewhat by accident: from buying clothes when traveling, receiving commemorative shirts every time he runs a marathon, and fans mailing him novelty T-shirts. “I’m not particularly interested in collecting things,” said Murakami in The New Yorker, “but there is a kind of running motif in my life: despite my basic indifference, objects seem to collect around me.” That's not to say, however, that there aren't gourmet or artisan ketchups. My local specialty market has a truffle ketchup that offers a tasty, if a little cloying, play on truffle fries when drizzled over some shoestring potatoes. I've bought and enjoyed 'Chups' selection of fruit ketchups, which with their cherry and mango flavors, are a nice nod to the stone fruit-based ketchups of yore. I've also had a tamarind ketchup, served with lamb fritters, that absolutely blew me away.In the war between the " Ketchup is a Garbage Condiment" and " I Put Ketchup on my Ketchup" crowds, I consider myself a neutral party. I have a couple of hard limits — as a Chicago native, ketchup doesn't have a place on my hot dogs, and I'm likely never going to toss it on croissants or pasta — but I see its inherent value in the home cook's arsenal, especially when you get some of the good stuff that's more tomato than corn syrup. The development of some of these new variations of ketchup, whether it's with different ingredient formulations or more exotic flavor profiles, has been an effort to retain the customer base for ketchup that might otherwise have gone in search of something more exciting," he said. As star chef Jose Andrés told the New York Times upon the opening of America Eats Tavern — his 2011 pop-up restaurant, which had a separate menu of eight traditional ketchups made from local and foraged ingredients — "It is time to embrace and celebrate ketchup, not be ashamed of it."