I’m a novice sociologist. In many pseudosociological essays, the author mentions a symbolic shift in our nation, using the term “the year salsa surpassed ketchup as America’s favorite condiment.” However, I don’t know whose study this is from, and worse, what year that was-- I’ve seen '90 through '94 used.
Might anyone know whose study showed this, and what year it might be from?
Thanks.
It probably wasn’t a study. What is meant by ‘America’s favorite condiment’ is ‘the condiment with the highest volume of sales’, so the observation probably came from business reports, perhaps from salsa manufacturers. It’s very important to realize that the average serving size for salsa is much, much larger than the average serving size for ketchup. You’d only use a few tablespoons of ketchup even for a large serving of fries or a ketchup-friendly food, but salsa is eaten by the bowl. So you’d have to eat ketchup-friendly foods several times to compensate for one salsa-containing meal.
Since a jar of salsa contains only a few servings but a bottle of ketchup of the same size contains enough to last for a fairly long time, it only makes sense that salsa would eventually eclipse ketchup as the condiment with the highest volume of sales once it caught on.
One final thing is that salsa gets to cheat a bit by being considered a condiment. If tomato sauce were a condiment rather than a sauce, it would vastly surpass salsa in total volume sold.
This dates it from 1992. (I’ve seen other references to 1991). Notice the fine print:
Thanks-- here are some of the confusing bits of information I’ve seen–
“In the early 1990’s, tomato salsa surpassed ketchup…”
“In 1992 salsa surpassed ketchup in popularity.”
“In 1996 it surpassed ketchup as the most-used condiment in the United States…”
“By the time sales of salsa surpassed those of ketchup (in '91, to the tune of $40 Million)…”
And so forth.
Thanks again! 
JERRY: "You know why? Because people like to say “salsa.” “Excuse me, do
you have any salsa?” “We need more salsa.” “Where is the salsa? No salsa?”
GEORGE: "You know it must be impossible for a Spanish person to order
seltzer and not get salsa. “I wanted seltzer, not salsa!”
JERRY: “Don’t you know the difference between seltzer and salsa? You
have the seltezer after the salsa!”
GEORGE: “See, this should be a show. This is the show.”