prepared by Tom White
From Wikipedia:
Waffles:
The word "waffle" first appears in the English language in 1725:
"Waffles. Take flower, cream..." It is directly derived from the Dutch wafel, which itself derives from the Middle Dutch wafele. While the Middle Dutch wafele is first attested to at the end of the 13th century, it is preceded by the French walfre in 1185; both from Frankish wafla 'honeycomb' or 'cake'.
In ancient times the Greeks cooked flat cakes, called obelios, between
hot metal plates. As they were spread throughout medieval Europe, the
cake mix, a mixture of flour, water or milk, and often eggs, became
known as wafers and were also cooked over an open fire between iron
plates with long handles.
Waffles are preceded, in the early Middle Ages, around the period of the 9th–10th centuries, with the simultaneous emergence of fer à hosties / hostieijzers (communion wafer irons) and moule à oublies (wafer irons). While the communion wafer irons typically depicted imagery of Jesus and his crucifixion, the moule à oublies
featured more trivial Biblical scenes or simple, emblematic designs.
The format of the iron itself was almost always round and considerably
larger than those used for communion.
The oublie was, in its basic form, composed only of grain flour and water – just as was the communion wafer.
It took until the 11th century, as a product of The Crusades bringing
new culinary ingredients to Western Europe, for flavorings such as
orange blossom water to be added to the oublies; however, locally
sourced honey and other flavorings may have already been in use before
that time.
Oublies, not formally named as such until ca. 1200, spread throughout northwestern continental Europe, eventually leading to the formation of the oublieurs guild in 1270.
These oublieurs/obloyers were responsible for not only producing the
oublies but also for a number of other contemporaneous and subsequent pâtisseries légères (light pastries), including the waffles that were soon to arise.
Though some have speculated that waffle irons
first appeared in the 13th–14th centuries, it was not until the 15th
century that a true physical distinction between the oublie and the
waffle began to evolve. It was also in this period that the waffle's classic grid motif appeared clearly in a French fer à oublie and a Belgian wafelijzer
– albeit in a more shallowly engraved fashion – setting the stage for
the more deeply gridded irons that were about to become commonplace
throughout Belgium.
By the 16th century, paintings by Joachim de Beuckelaer, Pieter Aertsen
and Pieter Bruegel the Elder clearly depict the modern waffle form.
German School - 1600
waffle maker in chair right of center in foreground
In
2008, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama kicked off a day
of campaigning in Pennsylvania by dropping by a Scranton diner for a
breakfast of waffles, sausage and orange juice. The Illinois senator
brushed aside a question from one reporter on his reaction to former
President Jimmy Carter’s description of a positive meeting with leaders
of the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas. "“Why can’t I just eat my
waffle?” Obama replied. The leftovers of the breakfast partially
consumed by Obama were attracting bids of more than $10,000 on eBay
until the auction came grinding to a halt when the seller retracted the
item. (links below).
Barack Obama - 2008
photo: Olson/Getty Images
Viewfinder links:
Barack Obama
Corona Virus articles
Styrous®
Tom White
Net links:
NY Daily News ~ Barack Obama just wants to eat his waffles in peace
Reuters ~ ‘Why can’t I just eat my waffle?’
Vanity Fair ~ Obama's $10,000 Waffle
"Why can't I just eat my waffle?"
~ Barack Obama
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, July 22, 2020
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