Getting Saucy: 13 Condiments From Around the World

Salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard—what more does a table need? According to the rest of the world, a lot. Expand your culinary horizons and learn about these mouthwatering sauces, spices, and condiments that have their own place at the table.

Pickapeppa Sauce

Introduced in 1921, Jamaica’s sweet and tangy hot sauce offers an easy way to spice up Bloody Marys and Jerk Chicken. But packing all that island flavor into a little bottle isn’t easy. Chefs simmer tomatoes, onions, cane vinegar, mangos, raisins, and peppers with spices, then age the batches in oak barrels. The effort is worth it—loyalists like Naomi Campbell tote tiny bottles with them everywhere they go.

Fish Sauce

Making fish sauce—a variation on the Roman condiment garum—is simple: Just press anchovies and mix with salt, water, and some spices. But what the condiment adds to foods is a whole different story. It’s particularly good at boosting that mouth-coating umami flavor, so Southeast Asians use it on everything from fish and shrimp to pork and chicken.

Vegemite

In the states, vegemite is best known as a quirky reference in Aussie pop songs. But what’s it taste like? The spread has a meaty, malty flavor and is thick like peanut butter. It’s also salty, which makes it great on toast! (Or that’s what Australians would have us believe.) Vegemite was invented by the Fred Walker Company in 1923, and its exact recipe is a secret—but brewer’s yeast left over after beer production is a key ingredient.

Malt Vinegar

While ketchup is French fries’ main squeeze in the U.S., other dips and condiments have edged their way in around the world: mayo, BBQ sauce, tartar sauce, even gravy. But in England, when it comes to getting saucy with your fish and chips, malt vinegar is king. Sweeter than most vinegars (obviously, it’s got that creamy, malty finish!) malt vinegar is even making its way to America, with fast food chains like Five Guys serving it as a ketchup alternative.

Chutney

In India, chutneys are served with everything from breakfast foods to bar snacks, and there are hundreds of types—they can be made from fruits or veggies, and blended with spices to create sweet, tangy or spicy sensations. Often, three or four different chutneys are served with one dish, but don’t let that overwhelm you. For newbies, a good one to start with is the sweet mango. Don’t be shy about slopping it on, either—it’s said that chutney comes for the Hindi word chatni, meaning “to lick.”

Ajvar

Popular in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, this garlicky, spicy, roasted pepper condiment (which can also include eggplant) is extremely versatile. Not only does it work as a dip for breads and meats, but it even moonlights a salad dressing. While the sauce is completely vegetarian, it’s commonly said ajvar gets its name from the Turkish word for “caviar.”  

Lizano

Most tables in Costa Rica feature a bottle of Lizano to coat your dishes with. Created in the 1920s, the thin, veggie-based brown sauce is both sweet and spicy thanks to all the cumin and black pepper. It’s especially good on egg sandwiches and rice and beans.

Tahini

This delicious paste made from ground and hulled sesame seeds might be best known for its supporting role as an ingredient in hummus. But the condiment is ready to do some solo work: Tahini is often served as a breakfast item or as a veggie dip in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and it can even work its way into marinades and sandwiches.

Banana Ketchup

Bananas and ketchup are both beloved on their own, but in the Philippines, the flavors have united to create a truly distinct condiment. Banana ketchup was first created in the 1930s by Maria Y. Orosa, a food technologist working in the Philippines, and it began being mass-produced during World War II. It’s both sweeter and spicier than the Heinz on your shelf, and it’s used a little differently too: Not only does it make a great marinade, but the ketchup is used in pasta dishes like Filipino-style spaghetti.

Brown Sauce

Eaters from all over the UK and Ireland swear by brown sauce, which goes great with potatoes and beef. Famous brands of brown sauce include A1 Sauce, Daddies, and HP Sauce. The condiment earned the nickname Wilson’s Gravy after the wife of former Prime Minister Harold Wilson joked that her hubby’s “only flaw” was his penchant for drenching what he was eating in the sauce. According to Prospect magazine, “Wilson’s love of brown sauce was a signal to working class Britain that he was one of them—of a piece with his humble-ish beginnings in Yorkshire and the accent he still had to prove it.”

Harissa

This garlicky chili paste works as a great substitute for most hot sauces, but it can also be used in stews and curries and works nicely on grilled meats. The sauce, which is sometimes called “Tunisia’s main condiment,” is ubiquitous around the Middle East. According to NPR, in Libya, where the best spicy food is complimented for clearing out sinuses, the harissa is always the engine behind that effort.

Maggi Sauce

Maggi Sauce, a beloved condiment in Vietnam, was invented by a Swiss farmer in the 1880s. The bottle indicates you can use it to give anything from soups to salads a meaty flavor, and that’s basically what people do; enthusiasts evangelize about how it can transform a bowl of pasta and garlic or a plain fried egg into the most delicious meal. But if you’re asking for a bottle in Vietnam, make sure to pronounce it like the locals: “MAH-ji,” not “Maggie.”

Sriracha

Sriracha hails from the Thai town of Si Racha. It’s widely said to have been created by Thanom Chakkapak in the 1940s—though her granddaughter says her family was making the hot sauce even before that. She pegs her great-great grandmother as the creator, and credits her great-great grandfather with the idea: “He wanted to make one sauce that went along with all Thai foods … very creamy and different from other sauces.” Their sauce became Sriraja Panich, which is still available today. Meanwhile, fans of the original began putting their own spins on the sauce—including David Tran, whose Huy Fong Foods Inc. makes the “rooster sauce” sriracha most Americans are familiar with.  

Read More About Food and Condiments:

A version of this story was published as an infographic in 2015; you can view that post here.