Where Was the Waffle Invented? (2024)

As you wake, you sniff the air and your tummy rumbles. You know that smell. It’s the scent of a yummy round food with dimples. Soon, you will fill the spaces with melted butter and maple syrup. That’s right. We’re talking about waffles!

Sure, pancakes are great, too. But there’s just something about the crisp crunch of a waffle. It thrills the taste buds like no otherbreakfast treat can. When you think about how they hold fixings, it’s easy to see why waffles are a favorite choice.

Both butter and syrup are popular. Many people, though, branch out to have their waffles with other toppings. Some like berries, while others choose chocolate chips and whipped cream.

Waffles have been around for a long time. Food experts think they go back to ancient Greece. There, chefs roasted flat cakes between metal plates fixed to long wooden handles.

The Greeks called these cakes obelios, and they weren’t as sweet as modern waffles. The Catholic Church made flat wafers, called oublies, out of grain flour and water in Europe many years later.

Later, other ingredients—such as spices, cream, honey, and butter—made their way into the recipes for oublie batter. Adding rising agents made the wafers thicker. These wafers soon became the waffle.

In the 15th century, the Dutch began using rectangular plates with a grid pattern to cook waffles. Although no one knows for sure, experts believe the grid pattern we know today was a way to cook less batter over a greater surface area.

We give the Dutch credit for bringing the waffle to the U.S., too. It would be a while before waffle irons were common, though. The first patent for a waffle iron went to Cornelius Swartwout of Troy, New York, in 1869.

Today, many people eat waffles without the use of an iron—they use a toaster. Thanks to Frank Dorsa and his Eggo waffles (known as “froffles” early on), frozen waffles have been a favored treat since the 1950s.