by Georgina Gamble ’29 on October 23, 2025
Opinion
This was the question I posed to my dad when the chips and salsa arrived at our table at the Mexican restaurant. We had coincidentally just come from a Providence College men’s ice hockey game, where, during one of the intermissions, a girl was prompted to name as many condiments as possible in 30 seconds to win a prize. We had joked about the logistics of the game briefly, critiquing the way she named multiple different types of mustard (brown, yellow, spicy brown, etc.), and wondered how specific the rules should be. Our discussion accidentally took a more philosophical turn. We took on these game logistics as a challenge, coming up with a simple but layered question: how do you classify something as a condiment?
We proposed various arguments to each other, even dragging our waiter into the discussion. This has become a question I have started asking many of my family and friends, and it has opened worlds of opportunity for clever debate. I consider condiments to be something of a flavor enhancer, such as ketchup or mustard. However, my definition of condiments draws the line at spices such as salt or pepper. To me, condiments are wet, rather than dry. They are the little sachets that reside in baskets at the pick-up counter, where you grab a handful and enjoy them at your leisure. However, not all of these wet indulgences are under my personal umbrella of condiments. Cream cheese is a topping, so is butter. Most of the items in the breakfast category are toppings—like peanut butter and jelly. You can’t put condiments on a bagel. To me and many others, relish is not a condiment but rather a topping. That’s just the way it is.
There are times when the categories can become complicated. Take olive oil, for example. Olive oil at its core falls under the ingredient umbrella, but sometimes, I consider it a dip. It’s a dip when the fancy Italian restaurants give you a plate of olive oil to enjoy with your warm bread. However, on a salad, olive oil is a dressing.
The same weird rules go for ranch, for example. Ranch on top of some greens? Dressing. But if you put ranch in a bowl? That immediately becomes a dip for carrots and celery. Even ketchup: it’s a condiment at heart, but then you put it into a soufflé cup and enjoy it with your fries. Now it’s a dip.
I believe everyone’s own take on what makes something a condiment or not is always up for debate. The categories and umbrella terms are endless, the “what ifs” and “buts” of the discussions will always keep you modifying your argument. Maybe there’s no need for labeling these flavorings at all, but it’s always fun to keep a random question in your back pocket for those awkward lulls at the dinner table.