American diners are being urged to boycott a staple of the country's fast food diet ahead of the USA's World Cup encounter with Belgium tonight.
In what started out as a tongue-in-cheek exchange on the company’s Twitter account, Waffle House spokesman Pat Warner has urged America’s dining public to show solidarity with their “soccer” heroes by boycotting Belgian food products, most notably Belgian waffles.
The much-loved breakfast treat is a particular favourite across the US, but the popular dining chain insisted on its official Twitter feed that “we don’t believe in Belgium (sic) waffles,” and that they instead sold “American waffles”.
According to Warner, it’s more than just a matter of nomenclature. Pointing out the vital structural differences between the two egg-based snacks, he contrasted the round American waffle to its square Belgian counterpart, and observed how the shallower indentations on the American version allowed for optimal syrup distribution.
Waffle House is one of the largest dining establishments in the US, and the company claims to have sold about 877 million waffles in its 1,700 stores scattered across 25 states since opening in 1955.
Despite receiving some abuse over its misspelling of the name of tonight’s opposition, Warner says that the US side have a “good shot” this year, and that his company will be supporting the team to the hilt as baseball mitts, basketball sneakers and footballs of different persuasions are temporarily cast aside as fans look ahead in anticipation to tonight’s last 16 tie.
The fact that no-one in Belgium actually consumes the “Belgian” waffles conventionally alluded to on the other side of the Atlantic may serve as a slight fly in the ointment, but so long as the sycophantic nationalistic fervour of team USA’s fans leaves our favoured potato waffles out of the firing line, then there’s nothing to be concerned about.