On Waffles And Cycling

Here’s a word from the waffle guy on the importance of cycling in the waffle-world, and vice versa.

Cycling is one of my fondest memories of my growing up in Belgium. Just like waffles, cycling came in many flavors back in those days. I loved biking to school every day (mostly in the rain of course), my family had a tradition of watching the great classics in the spring (on TV), the Tour in the summer and the cyclocross races in the fall…always accompanied by coffee and cake on a Sunday afternoon.

But my best memories of cycling certainly come from the typical Belgian “kermiskoers”. Every village in Belgium had its annual street fair with as typical ingredients the bumpercars, the shooting stand, the rollercoaster and of course…the cycling race which would always swing by the street fair and around the church tower before heading for a loop through the local fields and cobblestone paths from the Roman days.

And a “kermiskoers” would not be a real one unless there were waffles being served, preferably with powdered sugar and whipped cream. In my mind, waffles are unmistakably married with cycling races, they are both part of the Belgian folklore, where local kids devour waffles, where the farmers take a day of to watch the race while chewing away on their cigars, where romances are born on the bumpercar track.

I really hope one day I can translate this feeling into a store…wouldn’t that be great: a cyclocross themed waffle store in the middle of Manhattan. Not sure if a lot of people would get the link, but certainly a direction I am thinking.