Vol. 18: #12 • Waffles • (3-20-2022) Tidbits of Coachella Valley

March 25 has been declared International Waffle Day, and Tidbits is stirring up these facts on one of our favorite breakfast foods!

WAFFLE HISTORY

• During the Middle Ages as early as the ninth century, the Greeks were cooking up flat cakes called obelios. These were savory rather than sweet cakes that were grilled over the fire between two iron plates with long wooden handles. As the unique cooking method and recipe spread across Europe, the ingredients became sweeter with the addition of spices and honey, and yeast to make it thicker. The plates were enhanced as well, some with a grid pattern, while others featured decorative designs such as a coat of arms.

• The Dutch gave us the term “waffle,” from their word for “wafer.” They are also credited with bringing the cakes to North America.

• Before serving as the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson was sent to France as a minister to negotiate commercial trade agreements with France and other European countries, a position he held from 1784 to 1789. Upon his return to America, he brought a fancy French waffle maker home, considered to be the first of its kind in the U.S. The long-handled, patterned griddle enclosed the batter, creating crisp, shaped waffles, unlike the two flat plates that were being used.

• In August of 1869, Cornelius Swarthout received Patent #94,043, the first American patent for a waffle iron. Swarthout, a Dutch-American from Troy, New York, called his invention a “device to bake waffles,” which was a two-piece, covered cast iron device that was heated on top of a coal stove, requiring the cook to flip the griddle to cook the other side. The year 1911 brought the first electric waffle iron, invented by Thomas Stackbeck and marketed by General Electric.

NEW SHAPES - NEW USES

• A product-changing event occurred at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, when a Missouri merchant selling ice cream at the fair ran out of serving cups. In desperation, he approached a nearby vendor peddling waffles and tried curling the waffle into a funnel-shaped vessel that would hold his frozen treat -- and the ice cream cone was born!

• In 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression, three California brothers got into the mayonnaise business. Frank, Anthony, and Sam Dorsa called their very successful product Eggo Mayonnaise, with advertisements touting their product as using “fresh ranch eggs” to achieve the “highest egg content” of all the brands of their day.

• The brothers’ next venture was a potato chip factory in San Jose, aided by Frank’s invention of an automatic continuous potato peeler, doing away with peeling potatoes by hand. In the 1950s, his next invention was a waffle iron merry-go-round, which could produce thousands of waffles per hour. The next logical step, in 1953, was freezing them and selling to grocery stores. The brothers called their product “froffles” – frozen waffles – but soon amended it to Eggo, waffles that could be prepared quickly in a toaster.

• In 1966, the Dorsa brothers sold Eggo to Fearn Foods, Inc., a company that was later purchased by Kellogg’s in 1970. In 1972, Kellogg’s approached their advertising agency partner, Leo Burnett, to create a catchy slogan for the waffles. Burnett was the same agent who conceived Tony the Tiger, the Maytag repairman, and the “good hands” of Allstate. Burnett’s creative copywriters came up with “L’Eggo My Eggo,” the slogan that truly launched the tremendous success of Eggo frozen waffles.

The "Leggo My Eggo" marketing slogan helped launch Eggo waffles to tremendous success.

“L’Eggo My Eggo” was used for the next 39 years, when it was replaced with “Simply delicious.” When the new phrase didn’t produce the desired results, Kellogg’s reverted back to its original tried-and-true slogan. Today, the Annual sales of their frozen waffle product exceeds $290 million.

THE WAFFLE HOUSE

• A pair of Georgia neighbors came up with a business idea in 1955 that has become the nation’s major waffle chain. Joe Rogers, who worked for a national restaurant chain of the day, Toddle House, linked up with his realtor neighbor, Tom Forknew, and the two decided on a joint venture of their own. They opened up the first Waffle House ten miles outside of Atlanta in Avondale Estates, Georgia, on Labor Day, 1955. Although the menu in their new 24-hour, roadside sit-down restaurant featured 16 items, they chose their biggest moneymaker, the waffle, to incorporate into their business name.

• Encouraged by an immediate success, they soon decided to expand. New restaurants were built in Georgia as well as neighboring states, and their yellow sign soon became a familiar landmark along city streets and interstate highways across the country.

The typical Waffle House design and outdoor sign.

• Every Waffle House is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, nationally selling about 145 waffles every minute. The locations are even open during natural disasters, as they stay prepared to operate without power. If a Waffle House is closed, it’s a very disastrous storm, as FEMA officials partially gauge the severity by whether the restaurant is open. Using the “Waffle House Index,” the agency labels a storm “Code Green” if the restaurant is operating normally, “Code Yellow” if a limited menu is being offered because the electricity is out, and “Code Red” if the Waffle House is closed.

• Since the 1980s, Waffle House has even had its own record label, Waffle Records, which includes genres of bluegrass, gospel, and rock ‘n’ roll. Dine at the Waffle House and you can listen on the jukebox to such classics as “There Are Raisins in My Toast” and “They’re Cookin’ Up My Order,” songs designed to sound like “real songs”, and not commercials. Originally pressed on vinyl 45’s, the recordings are now played digitally.

WAFFLE TRIVIA

• What’s the difference between a Belgian waffle and an American waffle? The Belgian waffles use yeast as a leavening agent, while American waffles are leavened with baking powder. Belgian waffles were originally called Brussels waffles and made their debut at the 1958 World’s Fair, Expo 58, in Brussels, Belgium. They were introduced to America at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962, served with whipped cream and strawberries.

• Belgian waffles are thicker and fluffier than traditional waffles, along with a crispier texture on the outside. The pockets of a Belgian waffle are deeper, enabling the consumer to add more toppings – syrup, fruit, whipping cream, and even chocolate sauce. Traditional waffles, which are thinner and denser, often have a richer flavor because they are usually made with buttermilk.

Belgian waffles are thicker and fluffier than traditional waffles.

• What do waffles and sneakers have in common? In 1964, a track and field coach at the University of Oregon, Bill Bowerman, partnered up with athlete Phil Knight to create Blue Ribbon Sports, a footwear company that would later change its name to Nike. Bowerman was in charge of design, while Knight managed the business.

Nike co-founder, Bill Bowerman building a shoe.

Nike

• While watching his wife cook up waffles in 1971, Bowerman conceived the idea of a shoe sole with a honeycomb design that would grip the track but still be lightweight. He ruined his wife’s waffle iron while experimenting with different materials that might work. The process enabled him to create the first Nike Waffle Trainer. □

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