International Waffle Day

Also: National Lobster Newburg Day

Five Food Finds about International Waffle Day

  • International Waffle day originated in Sweden.
  • Vårfrudagen, a Swedish name for “Our Lady’s Day” sounds (in Swedish) like Våffel-dagen (waffle day).
  • Waffles are descended from the flat cakes baked in ancient Greece. These cakes were prepared with cheese and herbs and cooked between two metal plates.
  • The waffles we know today first appeared in the Middle Ages.
  • Thomas Jefferson’s Belgian cook brought one of the first waffle irons to the US.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

  • 1775 Pecan Day. George Washington planted pecan trees (some of which still survive) at Mount Vernon. The trees were supposedly a gift to Washington from Thomas Jefferson.
  • 1848 William Keith Brooks was born.  An American zoologist, he was a champion for the conservation of the Chesapeake Bay oyster.  Author of ‘The Oyster‘ (1891).
  • 1867 R.I.P. Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge.  A German chemist who developed a method for obtaining sugar from beet juice.
  • 1867 The 2 mile long, 5 foot diameter Chicago Lake Tunnel was activated.  It was the first water supply tunnel for a U.S. city.
  • 1914 Norman Ernest Borlaug was born.  American agronomist, Nobel Peace Prize winner for efforts to overcome world hunger.  Developed the wheat/rye hybrid called ‘triticale’ with higher yield and protein content.
  • 1995 Pizza Hut introduced its Stuffed Crust Pizza.
  • 2008 R.I.P. Herb Peterson, creator of McDonald’s Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwich.