A World’s Fair and the Waffles Everyone Remembers
Food and Memory: Waffles from Belgium, the Big Hit of the 1964 World’s Fair
When I asked several friends and family members who’d attended the 1964 World’s Fair in New York what they remembered about the fair, to a person the first answer was: the Belgian Waffles.
It was my first thought, too.
Late in the summer of 1964 my family drove from eastern Long Island to the fair in Flushing Meadows and met up with my grandparents who lived in Queens.
I was ten, my brother’s were seven, four and three — my two little brothers sat on my father and grandfather’s shoulders for much of it.
When we returned the following year in the summer of 1965, my mother was pregnant with my youngest brother, so technically we all got to go to the fair.
And my devout Roman Catholic grandmother couldn’t have been happier about all of it. She was always most interested in the Vatican Pavilion where she’d have tears in her eyes at the sight of Michelangelo’s masterpiece, The Pietà.
It was all so BIG, so much to take in. Disney had been commissioned and designed four of the most popular pavilions for the fair — everyone wanted tickets to those.
We waited on long lines to see the Pepsi Pavilion’s “It’s a Small World”; General Electric’s “Carousel of Progress”; “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” (audio-animatronics!) for the State of Illinois; and Ford’s “Magic Skyway.”
Not to be outdone, General Motors created a pavilion that housed “Futurama” with wildly futuristic installations, one of which simulated a visit to the moon — we were deep into the space race in ‘64 and ‘65.
If you’d like to know more not just about the ‘64 fair, but all of the fairs before or since, here’s a terrific site by World’s Fair expert and Disney alum, Bill Cotter:
http://www.worldsfairphotos.com
But none of the spectacular attractions are as clear in my memory as those waffles are, nor do they evoke the same nostalgia.
It was summertime, I was with my family, we were juggling giant waffles and we were having a good time.
Brussels Waffles
The waffles at the World’s Fair were the “Brussels” style waffles and were available at the Belgian Village, a large reproduction of an actual village in Belgium. Major building delays pushed the opening till August, four months later than the official opening of the fair.
Brussels Waffles are light and crisp and are leavened with either whipped egg whites or yeast or a combination of both.
They had actually made their U.S. debut at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, but it was at the New York fair where they really made a splash. To read about the Vermersch family, who introduced these delights at both the Seattle and New York fairs, click Here.
The other delicious and popular waffles from Belgium are “Liege” waffles which are smaller, rounded and thicker with little sugar clumps. For more about Liege waffles and a recipe, click Here.
Making the Waffles
When I mentioned last week that I was making waffles, my friend Sarah Miller who writes the wonderful “Can we read” (Visit: canweread) wrote: “Teach me all the waffle things” which made me chuckle because in fact I needed a waffle tutorial. I can’t remember the last time I made waffles, and given that I had to buy a new waffle iron, it’s been a long time.
It’s not that making the batter is difficult— my struggle was adding just the right amount of batter and spreading it out evenly. About six waffles in I got the hang of it back, but not before I’d made quite a mess with a lava-like flow of batter oozing from the waffle iron.
But any clean-up was worth it because they were fluffy inside and crisp on the outside and when the cream and strawberries and powdered sugar were added the taste brought me right back to 1964.
I opted for a recipe that used the traditional egg-white method, but next time I’ll try a recipe with yeast to give the waffles their lift.
Here’s the recipe and a nice write-up and brief history of Brussels Waffles — first made in that city in 1842.
Recipe: Here
By the way, the original World’s Fair waffle recipe is still a secret (as far as I know) but this recipe got me close to what I remember.
The Theme of the 1964 World’s Fair
With these words, the fair opened its gates:
Peace Through Understanding.
Man’s Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe.
There was a lot written about the legacy of the fair back in 2014 on its 50th Anniversary. The fair was not without controversy and disappointment. This article from Bloomberg gives a snapshot of some of its woes: Click Here to read.
But another article I came across recently from The History Channel (Read: Here) talks about six lasting legacies of the fair, including videoconferencing.
Also on the list of six? Belgian Waffles. Was there ever any doubt?
I hope you’ll enjoy some soon!
All the best and thank you for your support as a paid subscriber!
Jolene
Okay, just a bit indisposed for the 64 Fair (n Scotland, and in utero) . I do remember my first ever waffle: In Brittany, a hole in the wall at Mont St Michel, in fact, a little rosette of Chantilly cream in each waffle hole. I think powdered sugar was involved. Sublime. 45 years later, and I can still smell and taste that Brittany butter. Now you're giving me recipes and reasons... Uh oh. Usually my husband is the waffle wrangler in this house, but maybe I could have a go.
Hi Jolene, I came across your article doing some research for my own article on Belgian waffles (https://sarahfrison.substack.com/p/wait-is-that-a-belgian-waffle), loved reading about your experience actually going to the fair and trying the waffles yourself!