Marie Siska

Mother Siska has a long history. The year 1882, Fransisca Fincent was married three times, twice widowed and mother of 10 children. With her first husband François de Fonseca who was of Spanish noble descent, she had five children and with her second husband, Felix Vandepitte, a miller from Aalter, she had two children. Finally, she married Louis De Vos with whom she had three more children. Father De Vos was a miller and next to the mill Fransisca had her inn. It served as a waiting room for the farmers who came to grind their grain. The farmers paid the miller with two scoops of flour from each bag that was ground. That flour was used to bake bread. For example, in the inn one could eat bread with smoked ham, "flat cheese" or farmer's omelette. Fransisca was called "Mother Siska" by her offspring and soon she was addressed by everyone. When she went on a trip to Amsterdam, Mother Siska saw a painting of a waffle iron with four hearts. Once back home, she had her brother-in-law, who was a blacksmith in De Pinte, forge a waffle iron with five hearts. For example, she had a heart for every child for every two waffles and waffles were always baked at every birthday. In mother Siska's inn, sales were organized by notaries. When a notary from Antwerp tasted the waffles of Mother Siska's children, he asked her to organize a similar waffle feast for his daughter. The party was such a success and marked the beginning of waffle sales on demand.

Dromos