Something Rich and Strange

Having always had a penchant for consuming foods and beverages in their eponymous locales (think hot dogs in Frankfurt and Manhattans in guess where), I could hardly go to Belgium without experiencing its version of the waffle.

For those of you not up on the provenance of your breakfast confections, the Belgian waffle’s popularity caught fire, like a Pop-Tart left too long in the toaster, during the 1964 New York World’s Fair. According to Wikipedia, it was introduced to fair-goers as the “Brussels” waffle. But its Belgian promoter, after “observing” that Americans were geographically illiterate, began marketing the product by its current nom de pastry.

As it turns out, this was a rather optimistic ploy to put Belgium on the map.

In a National Geographic poll, nearly half of young adults in the U.S. couldn’t find India on a map of Asia (hint, kids: it’s really, really big). It is likely that if they were asked where Belgium is they would say IHOP.