It's National Waffle Day. The holiday marks the anniversary of the first waffle iron patent, issued in 1869. Frozen waffles came out in 1953, and Belgian waffles debuted in 1964.
In the late 14th century, the first known waffle recipe was penned in an anonymous manuscript, Le Ménagier de Paris, written by a husband as a set of instructions to his young wife.
By the 16th century, paintings by Joachim de Beuckelaer, Pieter Aertsen and Pieter Bruegel clearly depict the modern waffle form.
During the early 20th century, waffles were shifting from a predominately street-vendor-based product to an increasingly homemade product, aided by the 1918 introduction of GE's first electric commercial waffle maker.