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Soup kitchen
A soup kitchen, also called a meal center, is a charitable or public institution serving free ready-to-eat meals, traditionally soup with bread, to needy people, widespread since the 1700s.
Sour (cocktail)
Sour (cocktail): a mixed drink of base spirit, citrus juice, and sugar, shaken and served cold; also called the sour family. Classic 2:1:1 ratio; first printed in Jerry Thomas's 1862 guide; includes Whiskey Sour, Daiquiri, Margarita, Pisco Sour, Sidecar.
Sour beer
Sour beer, also known as sour ale, is beer defined by high organic acid content from fermentation with bacteria such as Lactobacillus, giving a distinctly acidic taste.
Sour cream
Sour cream: cultured dairy product made by fermenting pasteurized, homogenized cream (18-20% fat in the US) with lactic acid bacteria to about 0.6% lactic acid; distinct from crème fraîche and German Saure Sahne.
Sour Grapes (2016 film)
Sour Grapes is a 2016 American documentary directed by Jerry Rothwell and Reuben Atlas about wine fraudster Rudy Kurniawan, billionaire Bill Koch, and Burgundy winemaker Laurent Ponsot.
Sour Patch Kids
Sour Patch Kids, also Mars Men, Very Bad Kids (France), Maynards Sour Patch Kids (UK/Canada): sour-then-sweet gummy candy created in Canada in the late 1970s, renamed in 1985, owned by Mondelēz International.
Sourdough
Sourdough is a flour-and-water fermentation of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts used as a natural leavening agent instead of baker's yeast, with pH 3.7-4.2, a roughly 100:1 bacteria-to-yeast ratio, and documented effects on bread flavor, shelf life, and protein digestibility.
Sous vide
Sous vide (French, "under vacuum") is a cooking method: vacuum-sealed food cooked in a precisely temperature-controlled water bath, typically 65–95 °C, developed in France in the 1960s and popularized by Georges Pralus and Bruno Goussault in 1974.
Sous-chef
Sous-chef, from French sous ("under"), is a professional kitchen's second-in-command who supervises cooks, reports to the head chef, and runs the kitchen in the chef's absence; a rank in the brigade system associated with Escoffier.
South African cuisine
South African cuisine is a blended set of cuisines from Khoisan, Bantu, Dutch, Cape Malay, Indian and British traditions, with dishes like bobotie, biltong, pap and bunny chow.
South African wine
South African wine, made almost entirely in the Western Cape since the first Cape vintage of 1659, is known for Chenin Blanc, the Pinotage crossing, the 1973 Wine of Origin scheme, and seventh-place world production at 4.5% of global volume.
South Indian cuisine
South Indian cuisine covers the cooking of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. Rice, lentils, coconut, and tamarind base; fermented idli and dosa; tempering; Chettinad heat; Kerala seafood distinguish it from North Indian food.
Southern Comfort
Southern Comfort (SoCo) is an American whiskey-based liqueur created in 1874 by M.W. Heron in New Orleans, originally called Cuffs & Buttons. Owned by Sazerac since 2016, reformulated with real whiskey in 2017; Original is 70 proof.
Souvlaki (σουβλάκι)
Souvlaki (σουβλάκι), also called kalamaki in Athens, is Greek skewered grilled meat in pita, distinct from rotisserie gyros; first modern shop opened 1924 in Nikaia by refugee Isaak Meraklidis; Greece's most consumed fast food, now 4-6 euros.
Soy Foods
Soy foods, made from Glycine max (soybean), include tofu, miso, tempeh, edamame, natto, and soy milk; high in protein and isoflavone phytoestrogens, studied for cholesterol, hot flashes, bone, and breast cancer effects.
Soy milk
Soy milk (doujiang, tonyu) is a water extract of soybeans, a plant-based beverage from China, now a fortified dairy alternative with protein comparable to cow's milk.
Soy sauce (酱油)
Soy sauce, known in Chinese as 酱油 and in Japanese as shoyu, is a fermented condiment of soybeans and wheat that originated in China and seasons East Asian cooking.
Soylent (meal replacement)
Soylent is an American meal replacement brand founded in 2013 in Silicon Valley by Rob Rhinehart and co-founders, offering ready-to-drink shakes, powders, and bars with plant-based protein; acquired by Starco Brands in 2023, distinct from the Soylent film fiction.
Spaghetti
Spaghetti, from Italian spago (string), is a long thin solid durum-wheat strand, Italy's most popular pasta at over two-thirds of consumption, documented in Sicily by 1154, with a Marco Polo origin myth debunked.
Spaghetti alla puttanesca
Spaghetti alla puttanesca, also aulive e chiappariell, is a Neapolitan pasta with tomato, olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, and chili; named from puttana, first named in print in 1961.
Spam (food)
Spam (SPAM brand) is Hormel Foods' canned pork luncheon meat, introduced July 5, 1937 in Austin, Minnesota; six ingredients, over 9 billion cans sold, spread worldwide by WWII military rations and staples like Hawaiian Spam musubi.
Spam musubi
Spam musubi, also called SPAM musubi (スパムむすび), is a Hawaiian snack of grilled Spam on a pressed block of plain rice wrapped in nori, adapted from Japanese onigiri and popularized in Hawaii in the 1980s.
Spanish cuisine
Spanish cuisine: the regional cooking traditions of Spain based on olive oil, garlic, and wine, shaped by Phoenician, Roman, Arab, and New World influences; known for paella, gazpacho, tapas, Iberian ham, and the UNESCO-listed Mediterranean diet.
Spanish omelette
The Spanish omelette, tortilla de patatas or tortilla española, is Spain's thick egg-and-potato omelette cooked in olive oil, optionally with onion; first documented in an 1817 Navarrese memorial, subject of the national con cebolla o sin cebolla debate, and a national symbol.
Spanish wine
Spanish wine, from Phoenician Cádiz plantings to the world's largest vineyard (889,500 ha) and third-largest EU production. DO/DOCa classification, Rioja leadership, Tempranillo and Verdejo, export trends.
Spar (retailer)
Spar, originally founded as Despar, is a voluntary food retail chain started by wholesaler Adriaan van Well in the Netherlands in 1932, with about 13,600 stores in 50 countries.
Sparkling wine
Sparkling wine: wine with endogenous CO2 producing effervescence, at least 3.5 bars at 20°C per OIV. Made by traditional, tank, or ancestral methods; Champagne, Prosecco, Cava, Franciacorta; about 7-8% of global wine production.
Spatula
Spatula: a broad, flat, unsharpened blade on a handle for lifting, turning, spreading, or scraping food; also called turner, flipper, or fish slice. From Latin spatula via Greek spathe; types include turners, scrapers, and fish spatulas in silicone, steel, nylon, or wood.
Speakeasy
Speakeasy: an establishment illegally selling alcohol, widespread during US Prohibition (1920–1933), successor to the blind pig and blind tiger; term from speaking quietly about illegal bars. Also, since 2000, legal hidden cocktail bars imitating them.
Specialty coffee
Specialty coffee, also called specialty-grade or third-wave coffee, is coffee recognized for distinctive attributes with significant extra market value; historically scored 80+ on the SCA 100-point cupping scale, now defined by attributes and assessed via the SCA Coffee Value Assessment, distinct from commodity C-market coffee.