Whodunit Wednesday: Fred van der Weij

When we first moved to Belgium there were a few things we had to get used to. One of those was not only the food, but how food was prepared. We both love fries, so that was not really a problem. And since fries are the best in Belgium, it was definitely not a problem. But fries are meant to be deep-fat fried. And not only fries. Lots of other foods are fried. Hamburgers are not known in Belgium without a breading and being fi=ried (unless you get them from one of the well-known American fastfood chains). 

In order to do all of this, every house has/had a deep fat fryer. And all of the recycling parks have a place to reclaim your used frying oil. After all, a good diesel engined car (of which Belgium has plenty) can even run on “frietolie” - fry oil. So one of the first things we needed to purchase was a fryer. 

However, we do not eat that much fried food. That meant that the frying oil often sat for quite some time and needed refreshing before we made fries again. So when Fred van der Weij came out with his invention, we were pretty happy. It was also around this time that we were becoming much more health conscious, worried about the kilo’s (or pounds) we might be putting on. 

Fred van der Weij was a Dutch engineer, born around the same time as we, but in the Netherlands. He invented a small oven in 2006 and later sold it to Philips in 2010. The air fryer is not quite a convection oven, although both use heated air to cook. The air fryer does this quicker and in smaller amounts. 

These days almost every house has an air fryer - although many may also still have a deep fat fryer as well. Not many people will know the name Fred van der Weij (who passed away in 2022), but most will be thankful for his ingenious invention for cooking well known meals in a more healthy way. 

Where oh Where Wednesday: Eindhoven, city of light

The “city of lights” is a moniker most used for Paris in my experience. This is because of the romantic associations, I think. Paris in the spring (which means that you will get rained on), or Paris at any other time of the year can be quite beautiful in the night as the lights shine. The same can be said of Las Vegas, which during the day may look like a jumble of dusty oversized children’s toy sets, but at night transforms into a wonderland of beautiful, dancing lights. 

So it would not be strange if you had no idea that the ‘city of light’ in the Netherlands is considered Eindhoven. You see, Eindhoven is the hometown of Philips, the electronics giant. You may not know that Philips is from the Netherlands and certainly would be forgiven not knowing that it comes from a city called Eindhoven, but you know Philips products. 

From air fryers to blenders to coffee machines, Philips is in the kitchen. Bottle warmers, breast pumps, pacifiers and thermometers are offered by the company for mothers and babies. Headphones, televisions and media players fill rooms throughout the house. As a matter of fact, the compact cassette, the cd and dvd came originally from Philips (the cd was developed together with Sony). 

Years ago the radio and the shaver were the main seller of this company. More recently the company has focused on medical care and technology, producing cpap machines and the medical tomography machines used to show babies in the womb or help see anomalies in your body before a surgery. 

But even up to 2012 Philips was the largest manufacturer of lighting in the world. They started with carbon-filament lamps in 1892. It was this begin which gives the city of Eindhoven, where everything began, the name: city of lights. It was literally the city where the lightbulbs came from. 

These days we enjoy visiting the city every 3rd Wednesday for an evening of singing with the congregation there. The church began in Eindhoven with Let’s Start Talking campaigns conducted with a few faithful members who are still working with the church today. We are blessed to be able to encourage and be encouraged in singing every month and joining in various other combined congregational activities throughout the year.