Some few weeks ago before I moved away from Copilco to Lindavista in Mexico City, I remember going to a Little Ceasers in Mexico City.
I knew I was going to be moving away from Copilco but didn’t know if Little Ceasers was by Lindavista area or not.
Which, as I write this, I can confirm there is a Little Ceasers near me.
I guess it’s a little bit stupid to assume there wouldn’t be, no?
Mostly because, as far as I have seen, Little Ceasers is CLEANING THE FUCK UP in the Mexican market.
I’m not fucking exaggerating.
Move to any neighborhood with a Little Ceasers near it.
On the weekend nights, you’ll likely see a handful of people walking home with a Little Ceasers box.
What type of pizza does it have?
I guaran fucking tee you that it has a large pepperoni pizza almost always.
Mostly because it only costs 79 pesos and the quality is good enough for the low price (roughly 4 bucks to Americans).
All around, it beats most of the competition – local and international – when it comes to making a cheap pizza at a decent enough quality.
Not amazing quality but decent enough.
Anyway, I remember visiting Little Ceasers again in Copilco area because I didn’t know if there’d be one near me where I’d live in Lindavista.
Simply didn’t research yet if they had one up there.
Again – silly me for assuming otherwise.
And so I ordered something that wasn’t a pepperoni pizza because I wanted to try something that I thought wouldn’t be as available up by Lindavista.
Some cheese bread.
Now, when they put the cheese bread on the counter, I asked if it came with any sauce.
They said no.
So I asked them “well, can I buy the crazy sauce?” in Spanish.
In Little Ceasers, they have something they call “Crazy Sauce” that comes with the bread sticks as a combo.
Which, as a side point, shows also how sometimes Latinos (and especially international brands) market some of their products in English.
That’s another topic for another day but I always found that silly given we are in Mexico and people speak Spanish in Mexico obviously.
So why call it crazy sauce in English when there’s surely a translation for that in Spanish?
Regardless, I ask for the crazy sauce.
And the lady tells me that “it normally costs 15 pesos but I can’t sell you it.”
Why not?
Because it only comes at that price in the combo with the bread sticks!
Which is fine with me!
I get that maybe they’d sell it for a higher price individually away from the bread sticks if I don’t order it in a combo.
I don’t need a bread sticks, lady!
I just want a god damn sauce for my cheese sticks!
Who eats cheese sticks without any sauce?
Anyway, I legit offered to pay whatever the higher price it would be for the “crazy sauce” without the bread sticks.
But she wouldn’t sell it.
I guess they have some management rule to not sell the “crazy sauce” unless I buy the bread sticks also.
Which, with the bread sticks, is a bit more.
So I think “forget it” and decide to use some of the condiments I have at home.
But, as I walked away with the cheese sticks, it did get me thinking…
“How could anyone down here seriously believe that a customer would order cheese sticks without any condiment?”
I don’t fucking get it.
It’d be like if I sold a Mexican a taco without a tortilla.
French fries without ketchup or cheese.
What’s next?
A Mexico without inefficiency in customer service?
Well, OK, that last one would be a world unimaginable.
And so I remember texting a friend of mine named Blayde about it.
And he went off also about how, in Mexico, it sometimes seems like the folks down here in general do weird shit with pizza and things you’d eat with pizza in general.
Moving away from cheese sticks…
He mentioned how, in his experience, he finds it weird that Mexicans put ketchup on their pizza!
Which, to be fair, I never thought about but actually is a solid point.
Ketchup on Pizza?!?
To be honest, I should’ve noticed this irregularity a lot sooner.
After all, it’s been in front of my face this whole time!
Just today, I bought some pepperoni pizza at a Little Ceasers.
Which is what reminded me of this topic actually!
And, when I got my pizza, they actually gave me some ketchup as you can see here.
Now, being honest, I never gave this much thought before.
I’ve ordered pizza from Little Ceasers down here plenty of times and also pizza at other places too.
And it has always been common enough for Mexican places to give me ketchup along with my pizza.
I never questioned it or thought much of it.
The only thing that would cross my mind would be how, if I was quick enough, I’d tell them “no, no, gracias, nada mas. Asi esta bien.”
Meaning “no, no, it’s OK. Nothing more.”
Implying that “no, I don’t want the fucking ketchup.”
Because, whenever they would try to give me ketchup, I would just genuinely not know why they are giving my ketchup!
I would never use it.
It would always lay around my apartment without ever being used.
And, whenever I’d get around to cleaning my apartment once every 10 years, I would always find a bunch of ketchup laying around to be thrown away.
So, truthfully, I don’t want the fucking ketchup.
I’m simply going to throw it away anyhow.
But, if I wasn’t quick enough, I’d have ketchup placed on the pizza box and take it home with me.
Though, as I implied, I simply never gave it much thought.
I actually never considered the possibility that Mexicans actually use ketchup on their pizza.
I just assumed that the pizza places like Little Ceasers were trying to be nice by giving me free shit that I wouldn’t need.
So now it’s a topic, no?
A minor one at that.
But one in which you do wonder “why do some Mexicans put ketchup on the pizza?”
I don’t fucking know.
And, to be fair, it might not be just the Mexicans!
Do other Latinos do this?
I have no idea!
Despite having been to most countries down here, I simply never took the time to notice what other Latinos put on their pizza.
Guatemalans? Cubans? Peruvians? Paraguayans?
Are they equally as weird putting ketchup on the pizza?
Never gave it any thought when I traveled around Latin America before settling in Mexico City.
Nor do I know why folks do it.
But it’s a relatively minor aspect to life down here.
And, despite the provocative title of this article you are reading, Mexicans don’t actually ruin pizza.
There’s plenty of good pizza places in Mexico City like Perro Negro that is the bomb.
And, being honest, I’ve tried ketchup on pizza after Blayde mentioned it to me.
Like I said, it was something I simply never gave thought to but tried it.
Was it terrible?
Nah, it was fine.
I wouldn’t and don’t put ketchup on pizza normally but it didn’t “ruin” the pizza.
But it was weird.
Nothing more than that though.
And, I guess you can say, there is an irony there.
The complaint at the beginning about any lack of sauce for the cheese bread but the weirdness I find in putting anything like ketchup on pizza down here.
I guess we all have different tastes for what to use sauce on?
Though, being honest, I don’t know how many Mexicans eat their cheese bread without any sauce.
Now that would be weird as fuck.
Anyway, if you have any commentary or insight, drop a comment below in the comment section.
And follow my Twitter here.
Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt
