“To thrill your taste buds.” That’s the mission cited on the site dedicated to the controversial Pink Sauce.
For those unfamiliar with the TikTok delight-turned-debate, it is not the UAE version of Alfredo meets arrabbiata pasta sauce. Rather, it’s a ketchup-like condiment made by TikTok user Chef Pii, which went viral in June.
Pii, whose real name is not known, ships her home-made product unrefrigerated across the US, despite the heatwave sweeping the nation. It is sent in packaging that’s often damaged, with an ingredients list that’s misspelt (“vingar”, anyone?) and a serving size that initially read 444 portions instead of 444 grams.
For once, it might have paid not to read the label.
Yet, it has fans who reverentially unbox the $20 product and generously drizzle it over everything from fries and chicken wings to burgers and tacos — delighting in its taste, which Pii describes as, well, “indescribable”.
But, what exactly is Pink Sauce and should you be glad or sad it’s not available in the UAE?
What's in Pink Sauce?
The silver lining is Pii is not backing down in the face of her many detractors, who are questioning how safe the sauce is given its erroneous packaging. Instead, she’s sticking by her product and vouching for its safety and authenticity.
She even says her team “follow FDA standards”.
This is a confident and candid claim but one the Food and Drug Administration has not yet confirmed.
Pii has also apologised to those who received damaged goods and has since changed her shipping service. Pink Sauce now comes secure in a pink box, complete with a pink feather in keeping with social media’s current obsession with Barbiecore.
Ingredients-wise, the base component, pitaya or dragon fruit, is known for its nutritional properties and is rich in vitamin C and iron. The sauce also uses a host of other natural ingredients, including pink Himalayan salt, sunflower seed oil, honey, chilli, garlic, distilled “vingar”, dried spices, lemon juice, citric acid and milk.
Finally, its ranch-like taste is being described by those bold enough to try it as a delectable melding of sweet, spicy and tangy flavour profiles — a perfect dipping sauce, then.
So should you try it?
Unfortunately, what you see is not what you get when it comes to Pink Sauce. Most of its detractors harp on about the liquid ranging in shade from the palest to the hottest of pinks and in texture from watery to chunky, with no semblance of consistency.
This, in turn, begs the question: if it looks different every time, can the weights, measurements and even quality of the ingredients be trusted at all?
No one is yet to report falling sick after consuming Pink Sauce — except the one TikTok user who gagged at the sight of her oozing bottle — but is that a risk you’re willing to take?
The 444 measurement error is another red flag. Sure, mistakes happen, but this is clearly a small-time operation that’s become too big, too fast — and more serious errors might yet emerge.
Until the FDA gives its stamp of approval and lab tests rule its safe to be sold in stores, it's advisable to steer clear of edible items, especially ones that come without an expiry date despite containing milk.
The debate around Pink Sauce
Whether or not the sauce is good or bad for you, the debate around it brings to the fore one of the most dangerous trends of our times: social media bashing.
While Pii is accountable to the FDA, which has not levied any charges against her, she’s not out to deliberately harm her customers. She’s just a small-time entrepreneur who came up with a trial-and-error recipe that became popular overnight and is now paying the price for other people’s buying decisions.
It’s not a crime, and certainly not worth the volume and vehemence with which people are trolling her. “I’m only human and I woke up to about a million insults,” the young chef said in one of her posts.
The verdict
While inexcusable online insults should stop immediately, shopping online for an unknown product from an unknown person is simply not sensible.
This is not the same as tasting a dish whipped up by your trusty next-door neighbour or buying fruit from a ripe-market vendor in person; it’s a pretty-looking yet unregulated product that just so happens to have gone viral.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
More coverage from the Future Forum
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
Results
6.30pm: Baniyas (PA) Group 2 Dh195,000 1,400m | Winner: ES Ajeeb, Sam Hitchcock (jockey), Ibrahim Aseel (trainer)
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m | Winner: Al Shamkhah, Royston Ffrench, Sandeep Jadhav
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) Dh190,000 1,200m | Winner: Lavaspin, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
8.15pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 1,200m | Winner: Kawasir, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi
8.50pm: Rated Conditions (TB) Dh240,000 1,600m | Winner: Cosmo Charlie, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
9.20pm: Handicap (TB) Dh165,000 1,400m | Winner: Bochart, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh175,000 2,000m | Winner: Quartier Francais, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Cricket World Cup League 2 Fixtures
Saturday March 5, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy (all matches start at 9.30am)
Sunday March 6, Oman v Namibia, ICC Academy
Tuesday March 8, UAE v Namibia, ICC Academy
Wednesday March 9, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy
Friday March 11, Oman v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Saturday March 12, UAE v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, CP Rizwan, Vriitya Aravind, Asif Khan, Basil Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Karthik Meiyappan, Akif Raja, Rahul Bhatia
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The years Ramadan fell in May
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
The years Ramadan fell in May
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Section 375
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Richa Chadha, Meera Chopra & Rahul Bhat
Director: Ajay Bahl
Producers: Kumar Mangat Pathak, Abhishek Pathak & SCIPL
Rating: 3.5/5
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Saturday (All UAE kick-off times)
Valencia v Atletico Madrid (midnight)
Mallorca v Alaves (4pm)
Barcelona v Getafe (7pm)
Villarreal v Levante (9.30pm)
Sunday
Granada v Real Volladolid (midnight)
Sevilla v Espanyol (3pm)
Leganes v Real Betis (5pm)
Eibar v Real Sociedad (7pm)
Athletic Bilbao v Osasuna (9.30pm)
Monday
Real Madrid v Celta Vigo (midnight)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The 10 Questions
- Is there a God?
- How did it all begin?
- What is inside a black hole?
- Can we predict the future?
- Is time travel possible?
- Will we survive on Earth?
- Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
- Should we colonise space?
- Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?
- How do we shape the future?
