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Alcopop
Alcopop (also ready-to-drink, RTD): a sweet pre-mixed alcoholic drink in small bottles, typically 5-7% ABV. Known for youth appeal, 1990s boom (Two Dogs, Hooch, Zima), and special taxes in Australia, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Germany.
Aldi
Aldi (Albrecht-Diskont) is the shared brand of German discount grocers ALDI Nord and ALDI SÜD, split in 1961 by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht; over 90% private label, €112 billion 2023 revenue, stores across Europe, the US, and Australia.
Ale
Ale is beer fermented with top-fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast at warm temperatures, giving fruity character distinct from lager. Covers etymology, medieval unhopped ale, 1980s broadened usage, major styles, and market trends.
Alex Guarnaschelli
Alex Guarnaschelli (Alexandra Guarnaschelli), American chef and Food Network personality, executive chef of NYC's Butter since 2003, winner of The Next Iron Chef: Redemption, judge on Chopped, host of Supermarket Stakeout and Alex vs America.
Alfajor
Alfajor (from Arabic al-hasu, "filling"): a confection of thin baked dough pieces joined by dulce de leche or, in Andalusia, a honey-almond-spice paste. South American staple, especially Argentina, with regional varieties and Medina Sidonia PGI in Spain.
Alice B. Toklas
Alice B. Toklas (1877–1967), American-born Paris writer and cook, lifelong partner of Gertrude Stein; author of The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book (1954), famous for its Haschich Fudge recipe and culinary-autobiography form.
Alice Brock
Alice Brock, also known as Alice May Pelkey, was a restaurateur who operated several businesses in Massachusetts. Her Stockbridge restaurant inspired Arlo Guthrie's 1967 song, "Alice's Restaurant Massacree."
Alimentation Couche-Tard
Alimentation Couche-Tard, also called ACT, is a Canadian convenience store and fuel retailer founded in 1980 in Laval, Quebec, by Alain Bouchard; it owns Circle K, operates about 17,200 stores in 27 countries, and withdrew a $46 billion bid for 7-Eleven owner Seven & i in 2025.
Alinea (restaurant)
Alinea is a fine-dining restaurant in Chicago's Lincoln Park, opened in May 2005 by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas and known for theatrical, science-driven modernist cuisine.
Allspice
Allspice (Jamaica pepper, pimento; Pimenta dioica) is the dried unripe berry of a Myrtaceae tree from the Caribbean and Central America whose eugenol-rich flavor combines clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg; Jamaica supplies about 70% of world trade.
Allura Red AC
Allura Red AC (FD&C Red No. 40, E129, C.I. Food Red 17, CAS 25956-17-6) is a synthetic monoazo red dye used in foods, drugs, and cosmetics, with an ADI of 7 mg/kg body weight and FDA ban announcement in April 2025.
Almond milk
Almond milk, a plant-based milk alternative made from almonds and water, originated in the Middle East and medieval Europe. Key facts: about 30 calories and 1 g protein per cup, fortified with calcium, still the leading US plant milk category.
Altbier
Altbier (Alt): cold-conditioned, top-fermented amber beer from Düsseldorf, Germany, developed in the late 19th century; IBU 25-50, ABV 4.3-5.5%, brewed by Altstadt house breweries such as Uerige and Schumacher.
Altoids
Altoids: British strong breath mints created in the 1780s by Smith Kendon, sold in iconic rectangular tins under the 'Curiously Strong' tagline; now Mars Wrigley-owned and US-made in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Alton Brown
Alton Brown, American TV personality and author, creator and host of Good Eats on Food Network (premiered 1999, 14 seasons, Peabody Award), also hosted Cutthroat Kitchen and The Next Iron Chef; former cinematographer turned New England Culinary Institute graduate and touring performer.
Alvin Leung (梁经伦)
Alvin Leung (梁經倫), the self-taught 'Demon Chef' born in London and raised in Toronto, founded Hong Kong's Bo Innovation (up to three Michelin stars), created X-treme Chinese cuisine, judged MasterChef Canada, and runs restaurants worldwide.
Amanda Freitag
Amanda Freitag (born 1972) is an American chef, CIA-trained cookbook author, and Food Network personality, a Chopped judge since 2009, runner-up on The Next Iron Chef: Redemption and Tournament of Champions season 1.
Amaretto
Amaretto, Italian almond-flavored liqueur from Saronno; key brands Disaronno and Lazzaroni. Flavor comes mostly from apricot-kernel benzaldehyde, not almonds; Disaronno is 28% ABV.
Amaro (liqueur)
Amaro (plural amari) is an Italian bittersweet herbal liqueur made by macerating herbs, roots, bark, and citrus peels in spirit or wine, sweetened and aged; 15–40% ABV, drunk as aperitivo or digestivo.
Amaro Averna
Amaro Averna is a Sicilian amaro from Caltanissetta, created from a recipe of the Abbazia di Santo Spirito monks given to Salvatore Averna in 1868; 29% ABV, royal warrant 1912, owned by Campari 2014–2026, then Disaronno Group.
Amaro Montenegro
Amaro Montenegro: Italian bittersweet herbal liqueur from Bologna, 23% ABV, created 1885 by Stanislao Cobianchi as Elisir Lungavita; 40 secret botanicals, six tasting notes, and Il Premio, a micro-distilled ingredient at 1 liter per 15,000 liters.
Amarone
Amarone, or Amarone della Valpolicella, is a dry, full-bodied red wine from Valpolicella near Verona, Italy, made from partially dried grapes fermented almost to dryness.
Amarula
Amarula is a South African cream liqueur (17% ABV) made from fermented, distilled marula fruit aged two years in French oak and blended with cream; launched 1989 by Distell's Southern Liqueur Company, it is the world's second best-selling cream liqueur.
Amatriciana sauce
Amatriciana (sugo all'amatriciana) is an Italian pasta sauce from Amatrice, Lazio, made of guanciale, tomato, and Pecorino Romano; the tomato version of gricia, EU-registered TSG since 2020.
Amaury Guichon
Amaury Guichon (born 1991) is a French-Swiss pastry chef and chocolatier in Las Vegas, known for fully edible dark-chocolate sculptures, The Pastry Academy, the Netflix series School of Chocolate, and millions of social media followers.
Amazon Go
Amazon Go was Amazon's cashierless convenience-store chain, announced 2016, opened to the public in Seattle in 2018, using Just Walk Out computer-vision technology; all 15 stores closed in early 2026.
Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato
Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato is a Portuguese clam dish of clams opened in olive oil with garlic, coriander, and lemon, named for poet Raimundo António de Bulhão Pato; white wine is common but debated, and it ranked 18th in Taste Atlas's 2025 world ranking.
America's Test Kitchen
America's Test Kitchen (ATK), founded 1992 in Boston, is a culinary media company behind Cook's Illustrated, Cook's Country, and the PBS show, known for recipes tested dozens of times by staff and 30,000 volunteer home testers.
American cheese
American cheese is a pasteurized process cheese blending cheddar or colby with emulsifying salts such as sodium citrate, invented in Switzerland in 1911 and commercialized by J. L. Kraft in 1916; known for smooth melting, wrapped slices, and high sodium.
American Chinese cuisine
American Chinese cuisine is a Chinese immigrant cooking tradition developed in the United States, rooted in Cantonese food and shaped by exclusion-era immigration law, the 1915 restaurant visa loophole, and the 1965 Immigration Act; distinct from China's regional cuisines, with over 45,000 restaurants and a growing fine-dining wing.