My usual sources say it’s National Peach Pie Day but the folks at the Wafels and Dinges Waffle Truck say it’s National Wafel Day (their spelling – not mine). Since Wafels and Dinges are offering free toppings and no one has offered me a peach pie, I’m gonna go with the Wafflers. And before you ask – no, March 24th isn’t National Waffle Day. It is INTERNATIONAL Waffle Day. Not the same thing at all.

For one – National Waffle Day commemorates, according to Holiday Insights, the patenting of the waffle iron by one Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, New York. Now that strikes me as very American – to celebrate the PATENTING of something. The actual waffle iron itself has it’s own day.  I suspect the purer waffle love is to be found on International Waffle Day which is, like the waffle itself, far more global in nature. Now don’t go thinking waffles are of Belgian origin only. I know they are called Belgian waffles and those big fat crunchy on the outside ones are (and yummy as well) but people have been chowing down on waffles in Greece since the Middle Ages (and quite likely before that) and god knows where else.  Waffle Day originates, as an actual Day, in Sweden (where it is called Våffeldagen).

Now let’s talk about banana splits.  No, not the much loved childrens’ program of the late 60s – much loved by me, anyway. I mean, banana split – the cool and cream ice cream treat invented (depending on who you talk to or which part of the Wikipedia article on banana splits you like best) in Latrobe, PA or Boston, MA or even Wilmington, Ohio.

Why talk about them? Well, because August 25th is National Banana Split Day and based on the logic above, you might assume that since there is no International Banana Split Day, they are purely American in origin. I mean – Latrobe, PA, Boston, MA or Wilmington, Ohio – right?

Regardless of which version you choose to believe (and I have my doubts about the Boston story because who would use unpeeled bananas?) the banana split is an American tradition — like apple pie, baseball and Mom (unless of course, your Mom is from elsewhere in case stick to the apple pie and baseball).

The thing is though – once you break it down into pieces, just how American is it? I had to find out and luckily for me, the Christian Science Monitor was already on the case back in 2005. Don’t know why. Must have been a slow news day. It turns out that the banana split is a bit of a mongrel – a mutt made up of pieces from Malaysia, Yugoslavia, and Persia via the Caribbean, Italy and Brooklyn. And you know – what could be more American than that?

So cheers waffle lovers and banana split fans and have a great day!