• $16 Value Toward Meal

Belgian Waffles: More to Brussels than Sprouts

A big, fluffy star of the breakfast menu is the belgian waffle. Learn how it rose so high with Groupon's look at its history and recipe.

The thick belgian waffle’s especially deep divots frequently hold butter, syrup, or whipped cream, but when they first debuted they were covered in nothing but strawberries. Waffles weren’t anything new to Belgian diners when chef Walter Cleyman brought his thick, fluffy variety to the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958, yet his recipe—which he called Brussels waffles—became a hit. In 1962, he brought them to the Seattle World’s Fair, where he sold more than 500,000, licensed the recipe to a local restaurant, and helped start a craze that finally took people's minds off the Hokey Pokey.

Previous schools of waffle-making often simply poured pancake batter into a waffle iron. What set Cleyman's waffles apart from the pack was the addition of beaten egg whites, which added fluffiness, plus yeast to make them rise and add an extra tang from the fermentation. In Belgium, they're still huge and still called Brussels waffles. Meanwhile, US breakfasters call them belgian waffles, although the recipe has evolved over time and boasts a number of variants.

The first IHOP—the dream of founders Al and Jerry Lapin—opened in 1958 in Toluca Lake, California, and was originally dubbed the International House of Pancakes. Since then, rapid expansion has led to myriad milestones across the company's colorful history, from introducing its modern IHOP acronym in 1973 to its 1,000th restaurant opening in Layton, Utah, in 2001. Today, the company stands strong with around 1,500 locations across North and Central America, each one an enthusiastic dispenser of pancakes, french toast, and tables constructed entirely out of bacon. Though IHOP is known as a bastion of breakfast, it also stays open during the day and into the evening, delivering lunch and dinner as well.