Tree bark and ketchup made of bananas: Darren Lim tries unexpected fare in new documentary Wartime Food

For most of us, ketchup is a red sauce made of tomatoes.

However, local actor-host Darren Lim had an interesting finding while filming the new documentary Wartime Food — ketchup made of bananas.

In a report by Lianhe Zaobao today (Oct 30), the 51-year-old shared his fascination.

He said: “I have been to the Philippines many times, and would dip into some ketchup when eating street food. Other than being slightly sweeter, I didn’t pay much attention to it.

“Through filming this documentary, I learnt that it is actually made of bananas and tastes like ketchup, and was invented by a chemist during the war. It’s amazing!”

Darren also visited China and Vietnam to understand the experiences that locals had during the war.

He tried tree bark in China and recalled his grandfather’s experiences with the war.

Darren shared: “When I was young, I heard my grandfather say that during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, they ate tree bark to satisfy their hunger. While filming in China, we were directed by locals to a type of edible tree bark; the texture is unexpected and quite unique.”

He also visited a 250km underground trench in Vietnam that was used as accommodations during the war, which left a deep impression on him.

He said: “The trench seems airtight, but it actually had some hidden designs to ensure ventilation, which was very interesting and intelligent.”

Wartime Food also features hosts Danny Yeo and Emily Chan in Cambodia, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Jordan, Poland and Germany. It airs every Thursday at 9pm on Channel U. You may also catch the episodes on meWATCH and YouTube.