Talk:Dipping sauce

No mention of Saucemen's?

Do you think Saucemen's restaurant should get a mention? They have 1,000 kinds of dipping sauces. --70.167.58.6 (talk) 22:18, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

See WP:ORG. Gwen Gale (talk) 22:22, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

aybe where is it ill try t out — Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.206.24.1 (talk) 16:37, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Bread as utensil

A number of cuisines, Ethiopian and Moroccan come to mind first, use bread as a utensil to pick up a thick stew. I do not know if this falls into the purview of "dips", but if it does, this is an important aspect not covered. Novangelis (talk) 22:24, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Alton Brown

I don't believe the quote belongs on the article. Psilocybin (talk) 16:06, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Expert commentary is appropriate in articles. The problem is that the article needs more article. While I'd prefer James Beard to Alton Brown, but no one has added any content that makes the quote extraneous. I've had some ideas for building it up (rather than paring it to a list).Novangelis (talk) 17:40, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Description , opening

For many of these items, it would be apparrent that the dip is actually the main item being consumed, and the bread or cracker or chip is only there to facilitate consumption of the dip item. Drsruli (talk) 18:29, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

Dip vs dipping sauce

This may differ between countries, but I would posit that a dipping sauce and dip are two separate food items that deserve separate articles. A dipping sauce provides an additional flavour to the existing main component of the course, which is often finger food such as French fries or spring rolls. Ketchup/tomato sauce, soy sauce, and sweet chilli sauce come to mind. Meanwhile, a dip is more typically the main feature of the course, into which a more neutral food is dipped such as bread or crackers. Hummus, guacamole and tzatziki, to me, are dips, and not dipping sauces. I would add that while a dipping sauce can be a thin liquid, a dip usually has a thick consistency. Discuss. Neegzistuoja (talk) 09:59, 1 October 2024 (UTC)

I agree that there is a subtle difference, as you say. However, I'm not sure they would need separate articles. A dipping sauce seems like a kind of dip. The article was moved several years ago without discussion from Dip (food) to Dipping sauce as an "uncontroversial technical move", which was a terrible decision by both the user who proposed it and the admin who processed it. Mclay1 (talk) 05:34, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

Requested move 24 November 2025

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. Two titling criteria were prominently discussed in this RM: WP:COMMONNAME and WP:NATURAL. Participants generally identified the current title as more natural than the proposed one, as the current title lacks parenthetical disambiguation; meanwhile, users on both sides of the debate argued for their proposed title being the COMMONNAME, but I didn't see much convincing evidence marshaled to support either case. (It was postulated that WP:ENGVAR may have also contributed to the differing opinions on the common name.) The title "Dip (condiment)" was also proposed, but did not appear to attract significant support and was identified as possibly WP:OVERPRECISION.

Based on the weight of arguments raised, I believe the consensus of this RM is not to move this article. However: multiple users proposed that splitting "dipping sauce" and "dip (food)" would more accurately cover the nuances of this topic. Examples were noted of dipping sauces that were not dips and of dips that were not dipping sauces. If there exists sourcing to justify this split, I believe that carrying it out might succeed in balancing all parties' goals. (closed by non-admin page mover) ModernDayTrilobite (talk • contribs) 15:48, 16 December 2025 (UTC)

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Dipping sauce → Dip (food)Dip (food) – Per WP:COMMONNAME. The article was moved from Dip (food) to Dipping sauce without discussion in 2016 as an "uncontroversial technical request", which is odd. I doubt there would have been consensus for the move. "Dip" is by far a more common name for the general type of food, as evidenced by its use in numerous examples, such as Chips and dip, French onion dip, Bean dip, etc. etc. To me, a dipping sauce is a type of dip, not the other way around. You can dip in many things. I wouldn't call a jar of thick dip a "sauce". Mclay1 (talk) 11:38, 24 November 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. Jeffrey34555 (talk) 02:33, 1 December 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath^talk 03:08, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

• Support alternate move to Dip (condiment) - The proposed title implies that there is a specific food known as "Dip" rather than a form of condiment. In fact, I'd support the overt deletion of Dip (food) as potentially incorrect/vague. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 13:44, 25 November 2025 (UTC)

  I don't agree. Per WP:PRECISION, titles should no more precise than is necessary to distinguish the topic from another. Dip is a type of food, just as all condiments are food. French onion dip is a food. Ketchup is a food. I don't see anything incorrect, vague or potentially confusing about it. Mclay1 (talk) 02:59, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

  Condiments alone are not typically consumed as food. I.e. one would not drink pure vinegar or eat pure cheese sauce. While it is "technically" the case in the extreme sense, we don't have to go to that extreme if it is common sense that it would be called a condiment. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 05:46, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

  They're not consumed as a dish by themselves. But it's all food. Mclay1 (talk) 23:00, 1 December 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME and WP:NATURAL. 162 etc. (talk) 23:51, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

  @162 etc. Based on what? That's the argument I'm using for the move. Mclay1 (talk) 23:01, 1 December 2025 (UTC)

• Support. Neither is more WP:COMMONNAME than the other. Both are used. I would guess that dip is commoner in British English. Maybe dipping sauce is commoner in American English. So WP:RETAIN applies. And while it may strictly be a condiment, I think it's a bit odd to classify it as such. A condiment is generally seen as something you put on food, not something you dip food in. -- Necrothesp (talk) 12:00, 27 November 2025 (UTC)
• oppose WP:NATURAL also WP:COMMONNAME 'dip' is by no means used for all dipping sauces—blindlynx 14:55, 1 December 2025 (UTC)

  @Blindlynx It is in some countries. The current name is very American. But surely even in America, "dipping sauce" isn't used for all dips. This is a move to put the page back to its original name. Mclay1 (talk) 22:59, 1 December 2025 (UTC)

  @Mclay1 really? 'dip' is very American to me. —blindlynx 23:11, 1 December 2025 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Food and drink has been notified of this discussion. TarnishedPath^talk 03:08, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

Comment are there any food-related/specialized encyclopedias whose article titles you can cite? Right now no one is making fact-based arguments. User:Easternsahara_{review this} 03:49, 8 December 2025 (UTC)

• Support Comment some change is needed, or even supporting an article split - this article needs a rework to address these issues. Soy sauce is a dipping sauce, but not a dip. French onion dip is a dip, but not a dipping sauce. Pico de gallo is a dip, but not a dipping sauce. These should actually be two distinct articles. A dipping sauce is a sauce you dip into. A dip is not a sauce. You would not call french onion dip a sauce, nor bean dip, etc. For a source, see https://www.tastingtable.com/1543375/difference-between-sauce-vs-dip/. Obviously this is a nuanced food topic so I don't expect to find too many high quality sources on the issue but I will search for a higher quality one. LegalSmeagolian (talk) 23:41, 14 December 2025 (UTC)

• Comment - I don't want to derail the conversation, but I do take issue with the criticism of the move that happened 9 years ago. The fact that no disputed it for 9 years is enough where Wikipedia:Be bold would perfectly back it. --Created Account For Old UI (talk) 02:54, 15 December 2025 (UTC)
• Oppose - I second User:LegalSmeagolian view that these should be two separate articles. Dipping Sauces are thin that are also commonly use as cooking sauces too (think Sweet and Sour Sauce). Dips are generally thinker and aren't used as cooking sauces. I don't see this as an American thing. I did a google trend stats look up for the last 5 years and Dipping Sauce is more common than dip in pretty much every single English speaking country including the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. One exception is India. Dip is used more in more non native English speaking countries. I don't think it matters too much because I do believe they are two different things, but thought I'd bring the stats. The part where I differ from LegalSmeagolian is I don't think it's a good idea to move it back for two reasons. 1) The article is more towards Dipping Sauces than Dips already. 2) We are just creating a circle of going back and forth when the problem is there should be two articles. What I think should be done is break the redirect and create the Dip (food) article and take the dips from this article and move it there. Created Account For Old UI (talk) 02:54, 15 December 2025 (UTC)

  Agreed, I have updated my support to just a comment to reflect this. LegalSmeagolian (talk) 14:32, 16 December 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose - Per WP:NATURAL, natural disambiguation is better than parenthetical. Bensci54 (talk) 18:11, 15 December 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.