Hey, kid, I'm gonna steal your vegan waffle!

We would not be enjoying delicious vegan waffles today if it weren’t for the waffle iron, so those of us in the U.S. extend our annual thanks to Cornelius Swartwout for filing the first U.S. waffle iron patent. He’d likely be impressed with how far things have come since 1869.

This day is also a perfect opportunity to share highlights from two additional vegan waffle parties.

Brian and Lise in Seattle, Washington hosted an August vegan waffle party including a beautifully decorated waffle. Isn’t it a great photo?

Yeah, he may be an adorable kid, but I still might consider snagging part of his waffle–I mean, is he really going to eat the entire thing? He’ll probably just eat the blueberries and frosting, and be left with a hairless, eyeless, non-smiley face. And that’s certainly no image you want a kid to grow up with. Civic duty calls me.

On a more serious but equally fun note, following is a brief description of their waffle party:

“I found the website while looking for a recipe as one guest is vegan.  I read about the waffle parties and decided to go for it…all vegan. We had fun.

I made the sweet yeast-raised waffle (did the overnight version) and the peanut butter fluff which I placed in an icing piping bag…decorate your own.  It was a sweet success!

The photo is of our nephew before he took a first bite.  The tongue says it all.”

First, it’s cool for multiple reasons that you decided to go ahead and make them all vegan. Secondly, I say to your nephew, quit chewing on your tongue and start chewing on that waffle before it’s mine, mine, mine!

Alongside this, I also got a late report on what has probably been the most media-covered vegan waffle event over the last few years–the Sweat Records party in Miami. The scoop from Lolo Reskin, Sweat’s entrepreneurial owner, who makes bright red hair look ultra-cool:

“Waffle Parties as a monthly event have been truly great for our shop.  We’ve expanded the amount of toppings and treats we offer and are enjoying huge turnouts at each one. People tell us all month long they look forward to it!  One of the greatest aspects of Waffle Party to us is that vegans and people looking to enjoy more veg foods can meet, network and make new friends.

Some press:
http://itsveganlicious.com/2011/06/27/sweat-records-vegan-waffle-party/
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/events/waffle-party-2838653/
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/citylink/events/sfl-best-bets-for-june-2228-2011-20110621,0,3310902.story
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/26/2186467/monthly-waffle-parties-draw-vegan.html

Here’s the link for the local New Times’ photo gallery of the last one: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/slideshow/waffle-party-at-sweat-records-33634245/

We’ve also had some sponsors come on board – last month we gave out Magner’s Pear Cider (the Apple isn’t vegan ) and before that So Delicious gave out scoops of coconut milk ice cream.”

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I love the diversity of types of waffle parties, ranging from small home events to some larger business and organizational events. Just these two events alone illustrate that. Congrats on the fun events, and thanks for sharing some highlights!

waffle irons ready for waffle party

I don’t know what an eager waffle iron looks like, but ours are freshly cleaned and seem ready to go. Luckily, I was able to repair one that lost two screws during a very busy day of waffle baking and photo taking a few months ago.

Belgium, Canada, England, Japan, and the U.S. will be having vegan waffle parties going on this weekend, as part of Global Vegan Waffle Party IV. I’m looking very forward to hearing about them, getting some highlights and photos to share, and so on! Lots of fun.

We’re excited to have some newcomers adding to the energy as well as returning hosts from one or more prior years, as can be seen on the finally-updated “past years hosts” page. One of them (other than us) has even participated all four years. In some cases, individuals within the same city or Meetup group have rotated hosting so their area continues to have an event. And some hosts have kindly contributed over multiple years in other ways, e.g., mentioning the event on their blog.

I’m indebted to a number of people for inspiration and ideas for the Global Vegan Waffle Party. Among them is Gary Lowenthal, the largely unseen and unsung orchestrator of the  Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. In several ways, they are “sister events,” having grown up alongside one another over the last few years.

The WVBS is already poised to break its 2010 record, expecting well over 100 events with 50 between now and Sunday alone, but it could still use lots of additional signups. Individuals and organizations are welcome to host outside the recommended April 23-May 1 range, so it’s certainly not too late to organize something. We need some egg-free baked goods to offset all those Easter eggs.

So even if you don’t sign up for the Global Vegan Waffle Party, please sign up to host a Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale. Or both!

A few vegan waffle party guests and hosts have asked whether we’ve considered catalyzing other types of vegan food parties. This might include, for example, a Global Vegan Ice Cream Party, where guests bring a range of toppings for store-bought or homemade ice creams. Because of this, a few months back I sought input on whether you’d like to see one or more additional types of global vegan food parties, and if so, which type(s) you’d be most likely to participate in. But worry not; WaffleParty.com certainly isn’t going anywhere…

A small but enthusiastic group of individuals (16) completed all or part of the survey. Of those, 6 said you’d like to see similar vegan food events alongside the Global Vegan Waffle Party, 8 noted “maybe” or didn’t respond, and 2 replied “no.” Of the ideas listed on the survey, the most popular were  vegan pancakes, cupcakes, and ice cream. Vegan pizza parties also got a bit of attention. Other great suggestions included vegan sausage parties, vegan brownie parties, and parties related to more of an event type than a particular food type (vegan barbecue parties and vegan brunch parties).

Overall, our impression is that the volume of interest in this type of expansion (and thus necessary people-power to make it happen) is still relatively small. Because of that, and because the Global Vegan Waffle Party is still a pretty new concept that appears to have promise and additional possibilities, we believe we can have a greater positive impact by focusing primarily upon vegan waffles for now–with your help and energy, of course! We’ll see where we’re at after this coming spring’s events, and then decide what  may make sense to add next. I’ve also been hard at work on an information resource that I’m hoping many of you will find helpful–much more on that in upcoming months.

At least two of the concepts mentioned–vegan ice cream and vegan pancakes–already blend very well with the vegan waffle party concept. Perhaps next spring will see some vegan waffles ‘n’ ice cream parties, and more people without waffle irons will join in and have vegan pancake parties. It will be very exciting to see. Whatever the case, ease of guest contribution/participation will continue to be key–i.e., the option to bring something very simple for those who are less familiar with vegan food preparation.

Thanks again to those of you who provided feedback!

My picture is okay, but you can do far better...

A picture is worth a thousand waffles! If you’re taking a few pictures at your upcoming party, or took some at your recent party, and believe it may be the best in one of the below categories, please post it or link to it at the Vegan Waffles Facebook page by June 14. Full-size image should be at least 400 x 400 pixels. If you’re not on Facebook, upload them to a publicly accessible album and send me the link through the contact form. Also include your city in the message body.

Note which category you believe it fits, and feel free to submit for up to three categories:

• most toppings on one waffle (must still be edible—no wasting of food!)
• most stylishly decorated waffle (color, texture, and physical arrangement will all be considered)
• most people actively eating waffles in one picture
• most enthusiastic-looking waffle baker (we’re looking for some action shots here!)
• best expression that seems to say “Yum!” on the face of one or more people eating a waffle
• best photo of an adorable kid eating a waffle
• best illustration of teamwork/coordinated effort
• most artfully decorated party atmosphere
• most mind-blowing single topping brought by a guest (include a label describing it in the photo)
• best illustration of environmental sustainability at a party
• guest wearing the shirt with the coolest social consciousness statement
• any made-up category not included here, that you’re pretty sure your picture would win

This is pretty informal with one or two of us doing the judging and no tangible prizes. (If someone donates a trip to the Bahamas, that will of course change things.) The huge award is that I’ll feature the winners in a post here, with credits to you  included in the text alongside your photo. I’ll interpret your photo submission as your indication that this is okay.  If there are any “ties” in a given category, I may post more than one.

A few suggestions and guidelines:

• Consider limiting picture-taking to a few segments of the party, so your guests can relax most of the time.
• Blur faces if you think any of your guests may object.
• Please do not reproduce/submit anything that would constitute copyright infringement (e.g., images captured by your local media), but feel free to post links to any news stories about your event on the Facebook page.
• This is common sense for most of us, but I’ll include it anyway: Photos with non-vegan items, inebriated-looking individuals, or anything you wouldn’t show your grandmother, boss, or a 5-year-old are best left in the personal photo collection.

Have fun!