Sometime in the 17th century, British sailors were out sailing around for a breath of fresh air and adventure, not to mention plunder, when they discovered this fish sauce in China and carried a mess of it back home. There, probably in an effort to make it taste like anything but pickled fish, cooks mutated and reformulated this concoction until, somewhere along the way, someone invented tomatoes and history was made. Tomato Ketchup was born.

Ketchup existed before anyone outside the Americas had ever seen a tomato. Originally this sauce was made out of pickled fish. It originated in Eastern Asia; the word “ketchup” is used in Chinese, Malay, and Indonesian (e.g., kecap manis – traditional spelling kitjap manis). English and Dutch sailors brought the Asian ketchup to Europe, where many flavourings, such as mushrooms, anchovies and nuts, were added to the basic fish sauce. It is not certain when and where ketchup first came to be made from tomatoes.

If you mean the first to make it, that’s probably unknowable. Ever since people have been eating tomatoes (maybe 3 or 400 years ago), there must have been a tomato grower who, having a few extra tomatoes, or being a person who messed with food (a chef) made a sauce with those tomatoes. Ketchup is just tomato sauce with some spices and vinegar.

Did you write down the first food mixture you made that tasted decent? I doubt it. Don’t expect to find a record of this first kind of tomato sauce.