Les Gaufres Sont Arrivées!

Americans always seem to get an inordinate kick out of discovering that in France "French fries" are just plain "fries" (frites), and that nobody in England seems to know what an "English muffin" is. "Belgian waffles" in Belgium are, of course, simply called "waffles" (gaufres).

You have to go to Belgium to understand just how much Belgians love their waffles. Not just for an extra-special breakfast, topped with whipped cream and strawberries. Waffles are the commonest street food, served everywhere from little carts. In the supermarket, the better part of an aisle is devoted to waffles . They're also found in vending machines, cellophane-wrapped, plain or dusted with sugar. Waffles are to Belgians what doughnuts are to Americans.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed a display of pre-baked Belgian waffles in the Big Y supermarket recently. $1.00 for two waffles. The brand is Unique Belgique, a division of the Run-A-Ton Group, a New Jersey-based marketer of pastries. "Run-A-Ton" was founder and CEO Bob Wintz's exhortation when he'd strike his golf ball. Now, thirty-five years later, the company is "running a ton" to fill the need for innovations in baked foods product and marketing.

Good luck, Mr. Wintz. I confess I was rather charmed to see the familiar-looking golden waffles so close to home--not that I'm particularly fond of eating them myself. But you're going to have to run pretty hard to catch up with Dunkin' Donuts, in Massachusetts anyway.