T. Nguyen

Trader Joe's now has its own house brand of Sriracha sauce. Which, if you walked into the store with hummus on your mind and thus were not prepared to see rows and rows of the sauce innocuously lined up next to packages of dried kimchi (also apparently a new item, though maybe not one that we're particularly eager to try), you may or may not have nearly dropped your free sample-sized cup of coffee in surprise.

That Trader Joe's has a house brand Sriracha sauce, though, makes sense. A sizable part of the population is completely obsessed with the Thai hot sauce, especially Huy Fong's version (see: a cookbook, lollipops, attire). Thus we couldn't resist comparing Trader Joe's Sriracha to the ever popular Rooster sauce. Some Food Fights just write themselves.

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Flickr/photomato and Hourglass Footwear

They come in flats too

If you're one of those people who puts Sriracha on everything, you're not the only one. The Rosemead-produced condiment has been making big headlines these days. Over ten million bottles of the popular chili are made each year and the sauce has become a food-culture mainstay. Remember Sriracha lollipops?

Now the famous rooster is moving from food-culture to pop-culture. Designers are taking the spicy sauce and dressing it up on everything from shoes to rings. Who can blame them? Sriracha is blazing hot. Here's a round-up of five fashion accessories the Huy Fong Foods product has recently inspired.

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Kikkoman soy sauce

It may never come to a theater near you, but a film with heart, soul and soy sauce has been cooked up. Make Haste Slowly is a mini-doc that tells the story of how Kikkoman's ubiquitous condiment came to be such a big hit on tables everywhere. The trailer, now showing on YouTube, is as compelling as any big screen preview and whets your appetite for more. (And we dare you not to get a little choked up when you watch it.)

According to an Adweek story, Make Haste Slowly delves into the 300-year history of Kikkoman, from its founding in feudal Japan to its current status as the best-selling global soy sauce manufacturer. Kikkoman is hoping the 24-minute film will be shown on the Food Network or other cable channels.

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D. Gonzalez

The Contenders

Ketchup, with its pleasant balance of sweet and bright, for many people becomes ingrained in memory, often the first exposure we have to umami's savory taste. Which is why, no matter if daintily dipped or slathered on, ketchup exemplifies Merriam-Webster's definition of condiment, "to enhance the flavor of food."

Ketchup's history is equally as enduring. As The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink explains, the name and inspiration originated in Asia through a fermented sauce known as ke tsaip. That said, tomato ketchup is considered an American invention and was first bottled in the 1850s. Twenty years later, H. J. Heinz Company debuted their tomato ketchup -- and ever since, competing food manufacturers, home cooks and restaurateurs have attempted to supplant them from their perch as ketchup of choice. Although many have come and gone, there are several worthy challengers, especially when paired with the right dishes. Turn the page for our Top 5 ketchups worth making room for in the fridge.

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Rachael Narins

Burger

The Fourth of July is the perfect egalitarian holiday. Everyone is invited, and you don't have to bring a gift, dress up or sing any particular songs. It happens in summer when the weather is beautiful, there's nothing religious about it, you're not compelled to be with family to celebrate unless you want to, and it all culminates with free fireworks. Pretty. On top of all that, the food is grilled and therefore open to any and all interpretations. Come one, come all.

If you've got all that down, but still need inspiration, we have five condiments, presented in no particular order, that are perfect to slather on your burgers, dogs and steaks this year. Bring your own flair. That's part of what being American is all about, right? Right. Now it's time to celebrate.

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via Fast Company

Super Slick Ketchup Bottles

What a time to be alive: It appears that the reign of terror caused by stubborn condiments is finally over. Soon we might no longer have to struggle pounding on a bottle of Heinz and waiting for a dollop of ketchup to come out, all thanks to six MIT researchers who claim they've solved the problem as part of an entrepreneurial design competition.

The result is a bottle lined with "LiquiGlide," a nontoxic coating slippery enough to cause ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard -- or any condiment in a plastic or glass bottle, for that matter -- to slide out easily when held upside down. This isn't just big news for people looking to top off their hamburgers; it also could help reduce the more than 1 million tons of food waste each year and make food containers more efficient to recycle.

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flickr/Imgoblue

Just Add Mustard

"The World's Largest Hot Dog with Cuban Hot Sauce." It's not a slogan for the latest Guinness World Records attempt at temporary hot dog celebrity. It's the name of the hot dog stand that served as the inspiration for local artisan mustard producer Vivi's Original Sauce. Owner Vivian "Vivi" Poutakoglou, a self-described Sherman Oaks "elementary teacher by day and sauce entrepreneur by night," makes spicy-sweet mustard similar to the "Cuban hot sauce" her grandparents once made.

Poutakoglou's grandparents, former dairy farmers, traveled the carnival circuit around Ohio, Indiana and Michigan for nearly 50 years selling hot dogs topped with the spicy mustard sauce they made by the bucketful in their basement. [Yes, they were carnies, but grandmom, aka 92-year-old "Big Vivi," is not fond of that word, so we shall respectfully refrain from using it.]

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A. Scattergood

Short Order's fried dill pickle chips

What is a fried dill pickle chip supposed to taste like? If you have been to The Penguin Drive-In, a circa-1950s roadhouse in the Plaza-Midwood district in Charlotte, N.C., you know there are four steps that elevate this crispy, Southern-style snack food with zero nutritional value to total greatness: The slices of brined cucumber must be immersed in a buttermilk bath (some say the pickle chips must receive a good soaking while others insist they should take only the briefest of dips in a pool of clabbered milk batter); the chips must not hit the deep-fat fryer until the second the server can be heard screeching out your ticket item to the hulking fry cook; the crust must be light, crunchy and almost tempura-like; and, lastly, your order must come with a side of Ranch dressing.

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Tim Uren, star of "Man Saved By Condiments!"

In 2003, a security guard from Kermit, West Virginia, named Robert Ward was driving to work when he lost control of his 1985 Ford, plunged 150 feet into a snowy gulch and broke his hip. For the next six and a half days, he kept himself alive by eating snow as well as by some clever car foraging; for all of you who hold on to your wrinkled packets of fast food sauces to the unending consternation of friends and family, Mr. Ward's discovery of a treasure trove of them under his seat is the kind of "I told you so" story you've been waiting for.

But it has also become the inspiration for a one-act, one-man play by the supremely witty writer/performer Mary Jo Pehl (Mystery Science Theater 300, Cinematic Titanic), called appropriately enough, Man Saved By Condiments! To find out how Pehl turned Ward's interesting way of skirting tragedy into a theatrical experience and the Kickstarter campaign that will fund it, turn the page.

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