World's Fair Waffle

Directed by Alan Govenar

About

Details: 2013, 20 minutes, Director: Alan Govenar, Cinematographer: Didier Dorant, Editor: Jason Johnson-Spinos, Additional Editor: Alan Hatchett

Amazon Prime | Les Blank Films

In 1964, Mariepaule Vermersch and her parents, Maurice and Rose, arrived at the World's Fair site in Queens and set up a booth serving the popular street food from their home in Brussels, Belgium's capital. They wanted to call them Brussels Waffles, but Rose discovered that Americans didn't know where Brussels was. They began calling them Bel-Gems or Belgian Waffles.

They were unlike almost every other waffle served in the United States until then: These were light and fluffy but thick; crispy on the outside and sweet; topped with powdered sugar and/or whipped cream and fresh strawberries. This short film tells the story of the waffles intercut with Mariepaule demonstrating how they are made.