Anthropology of Food--University of Minnesota Duluth

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Waffles

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see also
Bread
Wheat

Waffle

Wikimedia

In the News . . .

The Belgian waffle that brings New Year's luck -- BBCTravel (26 December 2023)
National Waffle Day … but why? On the origin of food holidays -- YahooNews (24 August 2015)

Wikipedia:

Waffle
Belgian waffle
Category: Waffles
Wikimedia Category: Waffles
Waffles in art‎

waffle

NOUN:

(countable) A flat pastry pressed with a grid pattern.
The brunch was waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.
countable, UK) A potato waffle, a savoury flat potato cake with the same kind of grid pattern.

ETYMOLOGY:

The Dutch word wafel was adopted into English in the 1700s. The Dutch word, in turn, derives from the Middle Low German wāfel (modern German Waffel), which was borrowed into Middle English around 1377 as wafer, and which is also the source of the French gaufre. Wāfel, in turn, derives from the Old High German waba, wabo (modern German Wabe), meaning honeycomb and ultimately related to the word weave. The verb sense "to smash" derives from the manner in which waffle-batter is smashed into its shape between the two halves of a waffle iron, and the sense "to press a waffle pattern into" derives from the pattern the waffle-iron-halves impart.

VERB:

waffle (third-person singular simple present waffles, present participle waffling, simple past and past participle waffled)

ETYMOLOGY 2:

From the Scots waffle, "to waver, to flutter", a variation of the Scots waff ("to flutter, to wave", related to wave), with the suffix -le added. Alternatively, perhaps derived from waff, an imitation of a dog's (unintelligible and thus meaningless) yelp (cf woof). Also note Old English wæflian (“to talk foolishly”).

VARIANT FORMS:

waffled

Wiktionary

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Belgian/Bel-Gem Waffles -- Pumpkin Waffles (11 August 2009)
Belgian waffles are introduced in America at the Seattle World's Fair on April 21, 1962 -- Alan Stein, HistoryLink.org, Essay 10092 (13 April 2012)
Belgian Waffles -- CooksInfo.com
The Food Timeline – Lynne Olver, Morris County Library NJ
Newman, Kara. The Secret Financial Life of Food: From Commodities Markets to Supermarkets. Columbia University Press, 2012.
Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. A History of Food. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons/Blackwell 2009.
Waffle History -- The Nibble

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Detail from Het gevecht tussen Carnaval en Vasten
("The Fight Between Carnival and Lent ")
-- among the first known images of waffles

(1559)

Wikipedia

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Four Girls Eating Belgian Waffles
^©Bill Cotter, All Rights Reserved
World's Fair Photos
1964-65 New York World's Fair\Set 123, #009

Bel-Gem waffle eaters at the New York City World’s Fair, 1964.
The “Belgian Waffle” was publically introduced in America on 21 April 1962
by Walter Cleyman at the "Century 21" Seattle World’s Fair,
where they became its sweet treat sensation—piled high with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.
Pumpkin Waffles

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