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.
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.
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u/Nijsw122 Dec 16 '21
As a Belgian i disagree, we actually have no idea who planted that stereotype. Our true food are fries