Is it cheating if you cook with condiments?

After trying to cook dinner at my friend’s house last week I realized: my fridge holds an inordinate amount of condiments. Who knew, right? I never realized it, but I figured that having the whole fridge door filled with condiments was normal. But it’s not true, some people have like, two things on their door! Trying to cook with only ketchup and one kind of condiment made me think; am I really cooking if I’m using condiments?

Chefs are amazing for making flavors, but condiments are equipped with their own flavors already. So it would seem that I’m not a creating flavors like a chef if I’m using condiments to season meat like shrimp and chicken. What do I mean by seasoning with condiments? Okay so last night I needed to whip up some shrimp because I didn’t realize how late it was and how angry my stomach was at me. So I threw some shrimp in a pan and added some balsamic vinaigrette, pesto, sweet chili sauce, and Sriracha. All condiments! But the shrimp tasted great; sweet, spicy and a little bit tangy.

But after trying to cook without these accoutrements, I was struggling! I mean, my pasta still came out really good, but I thought I was good at cooking. Urg. Am I really cheating though, it’s still creative to combine all of those things… I think. I have cooked some pretty kick-ass things without using condiments, it’s really only my unplanned-I’m-starving-and-need-to-eat-now meals that have me grabbing a bunch of condiments like a crazy person. I don’t know if any of you out there do that too, but if you do, I’m telling you that I, a random person writing stuff on the internet, have declared it acceptable. If you made it, and it tastes good, it counts. Go us! *Clinks glass,* to the lazy and/or creative and hungry chefs out there, cheers!