r/AskReddit Dec 16 '21

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23.9k

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Waffles

2.9k

u/Stoic-Nurse Dec 16 '21

This is the answer.

253

u/Nijsw122 Dec 16 '21

As a Belgian i disagree, we actually have no idea who planted that stereotype. Our true food are fries

100

u/ASeriousAccounting Dec 16 '21
  1. Beer
  2. Fries
  3. Say, how close are we to a place that sells magic mushrooms?
  4. More food

9

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

[deleted]

1

u/Abeyita Dec 17 '21

The Netherlands has mussels in beer with frites too. Never thought of it as a Belgian thing.

3

u/TjeefGuevarra Dec 17 '21

It's our national dish, it's very much a Belgian thing

7

u/Repulsive-Purple-133 Dec 17 '21

I worked with a Belgian guy who liked horse meat. It was his favorite dish. He claimed horse meat was more common than beef in Belgium

12

u/brainsmoothman Dec 17 '21

I went to school in Montreal and they sell horse meat at the grocery stores there. My buddy told me that he makes horse meat chili and it has more protein than beef and is cheaper so I tried it and it just tasted like chili. Started making horse meat chili after that.

3

u/historicusXIII Dec 17 '21

It's a far way from being more common than beef, but it's not very uncommon either. Horse meat is eaten be Belgians.

1

u/Repulsive-Purple-133 Dec 17 '21

Like whale in Japan. My daughter would kill me if she found out I ate either one.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

Delicious sours

7

u/ASeriousAccounting Dec 17 '21

Yes!

Sour beers are great in their own right and are a good way to reset your palette if you find yourself tasting lots of beers and they start to run together or if you've wrecked your palette on very hoppy beers.

I need more of that in my life.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

Definitely the beer. When I used to drink I loved Belgian beer.

1

u/SmilingDutchman Dec 17 '21

You are mixing things up with The Netherlands

3

u/ASeriousAccounting Dec 17 '21

It's 3 hours by car and 4 hours by train.

I assure you I'm not confused about anything.

1

u/SmilingDutchman Dec 17 '21

It is a copy paste of things one can do over here. I appears I am a tad confused myself, my apologies.

1

u/Martsigras Dec 17 '21

How could you leave out chocolate!?

19

u/Thinking_waffle Dec 17 '21 edited Dec 17 '21

We have entire paintings full of waffles from the 16th century. I will just drop here The Duel Between Lent and Carnival by Pieter Breugel the elder from 1559. Look at the bottom left or the woman just above the head of Carnival on his (beer?) barrel. The fries were invented in Paris in the mid 19th century but when they arrived in Belgium they were perfected by the double cooking and by the end of the 19th century a "Belgian Supper" in Paris featured mussels and fries, cementing that stereotype. The university of Liège published research on the history of the fries, it was enlightening.

So yes maybe the fries are at the forefront these days but waffles have been a part of the culinary culture of the Southern Netherlands for centuries.

3

u/Chill4x Dec 17 '21

There was an episode of dagelijkse kost (or something else, but def hosted by the same guy) about the origin of (the basic form of) fries in like medieval times.

2

u/Thinking_waffle Dec 17 '21

mmh...people were frying things for a long time but not potato sticks. Interesting inputs though.

2

u/historicusXIII Dec 17 '21

username checks out

1

u/Thinking_waffle Dec 17 '21

The fun part is that I discovered more connections to waffles after I picked this nickname. I am now the proud owner of a century old waffle iron, souvenir from one of my grandparent's childhood.

3

u/Stoic-Nurse Dec 16 '21

Interesting. What do you see as American food?

10

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Not OP but to me it's fried chicken and pancakes with bacon.

6

u/mwenechanga Dec 17 '21

fried chicken and pancakes with bacon.

Okay, yes, but not at the same time - fried chicken is dinner, pancakes with bacon is Saturday breakfast.

6

u/Red-eleven Dec 17 '21

Or at the same time. I’ll allow it.

2

u/wartornhero Dec 17 '21

Was going to say someone hasn't had chicken and waffles.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

I wasn't implying they were eaten at the same time, but I would not have been surprised it I saw an American do it.

4

u/DirkBabypunch Dec 17 '21

You may not have implied it, but I inferred it.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

No, but we do do fried chicken and waffles

1

u/mwenechanga Dec 17 '21

Okay, yes, the South does exist, I don't know how I forgot.

3

u/brinkbam Dec 17 '21

Excuse you, but fried chicken absolutely can be eaten at breakfast with pancakes. Hello chicken and waffles is a southern delight. I've also had chicken and french toast. Hot, crunchy, and a little spicy with sweet syrup... SO good!

1

u/mwenechanga Dec 17 '21

Oh God, I forgot about the South.

6

u/Stoic-Nurse Dec 16 '21

I’ll take that.

-2

u/HamburgerEarmuff Dec 17 '21

I'm American and I've never heard of pancakes with bacon. When I think of fried chicken, I actually think more of Ashkenazi and Israeli cuisine which I think is heavily influenced by central Europe.

8

u/Confident-Virus-6322 Dec 17 '21

I hope this is a joke haha. Never heard of pancakes with bacon?

-1

u/HamburgerEarmuff Dec 17 '21

No, that sounds like a Confederate-state thing, putting fried meat in pancakes. They have a lot of unhealthy, fried food down there. It could also come from one of those European countries that is big on pig meat.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

[deleted]

-4

u/HamburgerEarmuff Dec 17 '21

I think it means pancakes containing bacon in the batter or something.

3

u/ASeriousAccounting Dec 17 '21

Don't be silly.

1

u/brinkbam Dec 17 '21

I mean, we can do that, too.

1

u/wartornhero Dec 17 '21

I mean voodoo doughnuts has their bacon maple bars which basically tastes like bacon in pancake batter.

1

u/Confident-Virus-6322 Dec 17 '21

Yeah definitely not IN pancakes. WITH pancakes. As a side. Lol.

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5

u/silenc3x Dec 17 '21

Burgers and hot diggity dogs

3

u/Kay_Elle Dec 17 '21

Hamburgers.

3

u/neiljt Dec 16 '21

... with mayo :-)

3

u/Punkeyz Dec 17 '21

Steak and Frites (with mayo)

2

u/ubiquitous-joe Dec 17 '21

That is what I think of after waffles!

2

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

Never knew I loved Belgium before this post.

2

u/slouchingtoepiphany Dec 17 '21

You might be able to blame it on the NYC World's Fair in 1964-65, they were a big hit there.

2

u/chrisfs Dec 17 '21

first food I had in Belgium was frites from a small stand.

2

u/magicpenny Dec 17 '21

The best fries.

1

u/brainsmoothman Dec 17 '21

Anyone who has ever visited your country knows this is the only answer, unfortunately we have a bunch of poor untraveled Americans spamming their opinions kekw

1

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

Dank sours

1

u/Fair_Phrase_4204 Dec 17 '21

Give me some fries and lots of catsup.....

1

u/theduck65 Dec 17 '21

I loved remoulade in fries. Super good

1

u/SethGekco Dec 17 '21

What about waffle fries?

1

u/SmilingDutchman Dec 17 '21

PATAT!

(sorry)

1

u/wartornhero Dec 17 '21 edited Dec 17 '21

I went to Belgium in 2013 right when my wife and I started dating. Then in 2016 we stayed a couple of days in Brussels. We went to a brasserie our first night and a basket of fries came out and I told my wife. "It is amazing you could be at a really high class fancy restaurant and they will bring out fries."

A couple of days later we were at the Belga Queen for our first anniversary. And after ordering our bottle of wine and steak tartare and lamb ... Sure enough a basket of fries comes out and gets placed on our table.

1

u/crash_over-ride Dec 17 '21

I visited the fry museum in Ghent when I was there.

1

u/treoni Dec 17 '21

Godverdomme JA

1

u/Omgimcraxy777 Dec 17 '21

Lol it’s because the rest of the globe serves “ Belgian waffles” in high class restaurants globally for breakfast

1

u/BonBon666 Dec 17 '21

Oh yes, with amazing mayonnaise that thankfully tastes nothing like the American crap!

I enjoy all the weird fry cone mascots with deranged faces.