Americans do not have one view on this, they have two, and the dividing line is the restaurant rather than the act. Asked about a casual restaurant, 49% call bringing your own condiments acceptable against 33% who do not. Asked about a fancy one, that collapses: 20% acceptable, 65% unacceptable. The same behaviour flips from normal to rude depending on the tablecloth. The survey also asked the people who actually do it why, and the answers are mostly practical rather than defiant: 56% say they like to add more flavour to food, 44% cite convenience, 26% want more spice, 17% call it habit. Only 11% said dietary needs and 11% said personal identity. So the carriers mostly frame it as solving a problem with the food. The objectors are responding to something else: in a restaurant that is presenting its cooking as finished work, adding your own sauce is read as a verdict on the kitchen. The 18% who were not sure about casual restaurants suggest a rule that has not settled yet.