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Volstead Act
The Volstead Act, formally the National Prohibition Act, was the 1919 United States law enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment's ban on alcoholic beverages, in force from 1920 until repeal in 1933.
Voodoo Doughnut
Voodoo Doughnut is a Portland, Oregon doughnut chain founded in 2003 by Kenneth "Cat Daddy" Pogson and Tres Shannon, known for pink boxes, eccentric flavors like the Voodoo Doll and Bacon Maple Bar, weddings, and multi-state expansion.
Voss (water)
VOSS is a Norwegian premium bottled-water brand founded by Ole Christian Sandberg and Christopher Harlem, sold from an artesian source at Vatnestrøm/Iveland, not the village of Voss. Distinguished by its Neil Kraft cylindrical bottle and ultra-low TDS (38 mg/L still), it is unrelated to the German vehicle-fittings firm VOSS Automotive.
Wafer
Wafer: a thin crisp baked good from batter between hot plates, also a US thin cookie, the Eucharist host, and a semiconductor slice; 2.5 mm thick, 1–2% moisture.
Waffle
Waffle: a batter cake baked in a hinged waffle iron, giving a crisp gridlike surface; also called gaufre. Known for higher sugar and fat than pancake batter, Belgian Brussels and Liege varieties, and frozen Eggos.
Waffle House
Waffle House: 24-hour Southern diner chain founded 1955 in Avondale Estates, Georgia by Joe Rogers Sr. and Tom Forkner; over 2,000 restaurants in 25 states, privately held, known for the FEMA Waffle House Index.
Wagamama (わがまま)
Wagamama (わがまま, Japanese for "selfish") is a British pan-Asian restaurant chain founded by Alan Yau in Bloomsbury, London, in 1992, inspired by Tokyo ramen bars; 165 UK and 62 international restaurants as of December 2025, owned by Apollo Global Management.
Wagashi (和菓子)
Wagashi (和菓子) are traditional Japanese confections of plant-based ingredients like adzuki paste, rice flour, and sugar, classified by moisture into fresh, half-fresh, and dry sweets, tied to the tea ceremony, seasons, and annual events.
Wagon Wheels
Wagon Wheels: British-Australian marshmallow sandwich biscuit brand invented 1948 by Garry Weston, launched at Olympia Food Fair; UK version made by FBC UK (ex-Burton's) in Llantarnam, Wales; Australian version by Arnott's with jam layer, 48 g.
Wahlburgers
Wahlburgers is a casual burger restaurant and sports bar chain founded by Mark, Donnie, and Chef Paul Wahlberg, first opened in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 2011, known for the Our Burger, Wahl Sauce, its A&E reality series, and its 2025 Hy-Vee split.
Waitrose
Waitrose, branded Waitrose & Partners since 2018, is a British upmarket supermarket chain founded in 1904 in Acton and owned since 1937 by the employee-owned John Lewis Partnership, with about 4.5% UK grocery share.
Walkers (snack foods)
Walkers is PepsiCo's British crisp brand, founded in 1948 by Leicester butcher Henry Walker, American-owned since 1989, with its Leicester factory among the world's largest crisp plants and brands including Wotsits, Quavers and Monster Munch.
Wall's (ice cream)
Wall's is an ice cream brand (Heartbrand, aka Algida, Langnese, Ola, Kibon) founded as a 1786 London butcher's shop; ice cream began 1922 at Acton with 'Stop me and buy one' tricycles, now sold in over 52 countries under The Magnum Ice Cream Company.
Wally Amos
Wally Amos (Wallace Amos Jr., 1936–2024), American entrepreneur, first Black talent agent at William Morris (signed Simon & Garfunkel), founder of Famous Amos cookies in 1975; lost the brand, later founded Uncle Wally's Muffin Co. and literacy advocacy.
Walmart Canada
Walmart Canada (Wal-Mart Canada Corp.), the Canadian subsidiary of Walmart Inc., launched March 17, 1994 via 122 Woolco stores; 401 units, 100,000+ associates, Mississauga HQ, CEO Venessa Yates, 8% grocery share, $6.5B expansion.
Warehouse club
Warehouse club (wholesale club, membership warehouse): a members-only retailer selling bulk goods at discount from large no-frills stores. Founded as Price Club, 1976; main US chains Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's; membership fees drive profits.
Wassailing
Wassailing is an English midwinter custom of singing to apple trees, pouring cider on their roots, and hanging toast in their branches on Twelfth Night, or of door-to-door singing for food and drink; the word comes from Old English was hal, "be of good health", and the custom has revived strongly since the early 2000s.
Water bottle
Water bottle: a container for drinking water, either a single-use PET package or a durable reusable vessel in plastic, stainless steel, aluminum, or glass; distinguished by LCA showing reuse beats single-use after a payback period, and by FDA and EU packaging regulation.
Watergate salad
Watergate salad, also called Pistachio Delight or Green Fluff, is a no-cook American dessert salad of pistachio pudding mix, crushed pineapple, whipped topping, marshmallows, and pecans, created by Kraft in 1975 and renamed after the Watergate scandal era.
Wedding cake
Wedding cake (also bride cake): decorated cake, usually white-iced and tiered, served at weddings. Traces from Roman cake-breaking customs and English bride pies to Victoria's 1840 tiered plum cake and the modern global standard.
Weetabix
Weetabix: British wholegrain wheat breakfast cereal brand, founded 1932 at Burton Latimer by Osbourne and MacFarlane, renamed Weetabix Limited 1936; flagship of Weetabix Food Company, a Post Holdings subsidiary since 2003, and the UK's number one cereal brand.
Wegmans
Wegmans Food Markets, founded 1916 in Rochester, New York, by Walter and John Wegman as the Rochester Fruit & Vegetable Company, is a private family-owned East Coast supermarket chain with 114 stores and over 55,000 employees, known for high satisfaction ratings and Fortune best-workplace honors.
Weisswurst
Weisswurst (Weißwurst), Munich's white sausage: a Bavarian scalded sausage of veal and pork, poached, eaten with sweet mustard and pretzel before noon, legendary 1857 origin.
Well drink
Well drink, also called rail or house drink: a mixed drink made with a bar's cheapest house spirits when the customer names no brand, contrasted with call drinks; name comes from the bartender's speed rail well.
Welsh rarebit
Welsh rarebit, also Welsh rabbit (caws pobi), is a Welsh dish of toast topped with a melted cheese sauce made with ale, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce; first recorded as Welsh rabbit in 1725.
Wendy Thomas
Wendy Thomas (Melinda Lou "Wendy" Thomas Morse, born 1961) is the daughter of Wendy's founder Dave Thomas, the chain's namesake and logo model, later a Wendy's franchisee and 2010-2011 commercial spokesperson.
Wendy's
Wendy's (The Wendy's Company, Nasdaq: WEN) is an American fast-food hamburger chain founded by Dave Thomas in Columbus, Ohio, on November 15, 1969, known for square fresh-beef patties, the Frosty, and its Pick-Up Window drive-through; 7,397 restaurants as of December 2025.
Wensleydale cheese
Wensleydale cheese: British crumbly cow's-milk cheese from Wensleydale, Yorkshire Dales; protected version Yorkshire Wensleydale holds UK/EU PGI status; monastic origins around 1150; Hawes creamery, Saputo then Lactalis ownership.
Werther's Original
Werther's Original is a Storck caramel-butter candy brand from Werther, Germany, recipe by Gustav Nebel in 1909, formerly Werther's Echte, renamed 1998, sold in over 100 countries.
Western saloon
A western saloon, also called an Old West saloon, was a nineteenth-century frontier drinking establishment, central to boomtowns, mining camps, and cattle towns from the 1860s to the 1890s.