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Baking
Baking: dry-heat cooking in an oven, the final step for bread, cakes, and cookies. Covers heat and mass transfer, Maillard browning, ancient Egyptian origins, and the modern $500 billion baking industry.
Baking powder
Baking powder, a dry chemical leavener of sodium bicarbonate, acid salts (cream of tartar, monocalcium phosphate, SAS), and starch; double-acting types release CO2 in two stages; patented by Horsford in 1856.
Baklava
Baklava, also known as baqlawa or pakhlava, is a layered pastry of buttered filo sheets, nut filling, and syrup, made across Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Bal des débutantes
Bal des débutantes, formerly the Crillon ball, is an annual debutante ball in Paris. Created in 1994, it presents young women in haute couture to raise money for charity.
Balaclava (clothing)
A balaclava, also known as a ski mask or balaclava helmet, is a close-fitting hood worn in cold conditions that covers the head and neck, leaving the eyes exposed.
Baldachin
Baldachin (baldacchino, baldaquin): ceremonial canopy of fabric, stone, or metal over an altar, throne, or tomb, or carried on poles in procession; named after Baghdad brocade; Bernini's St Peter's bronze baldachin is the famous example.
Baleen basketry
Baleen basketry: coiled baskets woven from whale baleen (keratin) with carved walrus ivory finials, developed by Iñupiaq artisans in North Alaska after 1914 and now a collectible Alaska Native art form.
Balenciaga
Balenciaga is a Kering-owned French luxury fashion house founded by Cristóbal Balenciaga in San Sebastián in 1917, established in Paris at 10 Avenue George V in 1937, closed 1968, couture revived 2021, now led by Pierpaolo Piccioli.
Balinese wood carving
Balinese wood carving, known as ukir kayu, is the traditional craft of carving wood in Bali, Indonesia, centered on the village of Mas near Ubud since the 1930s.
Balkan cuisine
Balkan cuisine: the shared food tradition of the Balkan Peninsula (ajvar, sarma, baklava, burek), shaped by Byzantine, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian influences, distinct from Mediterranean and Slavic cuisines.
Balkrishna
Acharya Balkrishna (आचार्य बालकृष्ण), born 1972, is an India-based Ayurveda scholar and businessman who co-founded Patanjali Ayurved with Swami Ramdev, leads it as managing director, chairs Patanjali Foods, and heads Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust and University of Patanjali.
Ballantine's
Ballantine's is a blended Scotch whisky brand founded by George Ballantine in Edinburgh in 1827, now made by Chivas Brothers (Pernod Ricard) in Dumbarton; flagship Finest dates to 1910, and it is the world's number two Scotch behind Johnnie Walker.
Balmain (fashion house)
Balmain is a French luxury fashion house founded in Paris in 1945 by Pierre Balmain, originator of the New French Style and Jolie Madame. Owned by Qatar's Mayhoola since 2016; led by Olivier Rousteing 2011-2025, then Antonin Tron.
Balsamic vinegar
Balsamic vinegar (aceto balsamico), Italian vinegar from grape must. Two protected types: Aceto Balsamico di Modena PGI (60-day minimum) and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena/Reggio Emilia PDO, aged 12–25 years.
Balti (بالٹی) (food)
Balti (بالٹی) is a curry style invented in Birmingham in the mid-1970s, credited to Mohammed Arif of Adil's, cooked in about 10 minutes in a pressed carbon-steel balti bowl with vegetable oil and served sizzling in the same bowl.
Baltimore album quilt
The Baltimore album quilt is an appliqué album quilt made in and around Baltimore, Maryland, in the 1840s and 1850s, its blocks bearing distinct designs, signatures, and inscriptions.
Balut (food)
Balut is a fertilized duck egg incubated 14-18 days (17 ideal in the Philippines), then boiled and eaten from the shell; also called trứng vịt lộn in Vietnam, with penoy as its unfertilized counterpart.
Bamana bogolanfini dyeing by women
Bamana bogolanfini dyeing is the Malian textile tradition from central Mali in which women color handwoven cotton with fermented mud and leaf dye, producing cloth called mud cloth, worn at key stages of a woman's life.
Bamboo textile
Bamboo textile: fabric from bamboo, usually chemically regenerated as rayon/viscose rather than true mechanical bamboo fiber. FTC requires 'rayon made from bamboo' labeling; antibacterial and eco claims lack evidence.
Ban Chiang pottery
Ban Chiang pottery is prehistoric earthenware made at Ban Chiang, a village in northeast Thailand, from about 2100 BC to AD 200, famous for red-on-buff painted vessels.
Banana Republic
Banana Republic is an American clothing and accessories brand owned by Gap Inc., founded in 1978 in Mill Valley, California, and positioned above Gap in price.
Banana split
Banana split: American ice cream dessert of a lengthwise-split banana, three ice cream scoops, sauces, nuts, whipped cream, and a cherry; invented 1904 by David Strickler at Tassell Pharmacy, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, with competing claims from Wilmington, Ohio, and Boston.
Banarasi brocade
Banarasi brocade is a zari-ornamented silk fabric woven in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, whose motifs are built into the cloth on the loom; the name has been Geographically Indication protected since 2009.
Banarasi saree
The Banarasi saree is a silk sari woven in Varanasi, India, known for its brocade patterns with zari and shaped under Mughal patronage in the 16th century.
Banchan (반찬)
Banchan (반찬, 飯饌) are Korean side dishes served with rice and soup, graded in 3 to 12 cheop on a bansang table; types include kimchi, namul, jorim, jeon, bokkeum, and gui, with a traditional free-refill custom.
Bandage
A bandage is a material that holds a dressing or splint in place or supports an injured body part. The main types are roller, tubular, and triangular bandages.
Bandeja paisa
Bandeja paisa, also called bandeja de arriero or bandeja montañera, is a large Colombian combination platter from Antioquia and the paisa region, built on beans, rice, meats, fried egg, plantain, arepa, and avocado; its national-dish status and 1950 dating are disputed.
Bandhani (બાંધણી)
Bandhani (બાંધણી), also bandhej or sungadi, is a South Asian tie-dye textile technique from Sanskrit bandh, 'to tie'; thousands of hand-tied knots resist dye to form dots, centered in Kutch, Gujarat, with a registered GI.
Bangladeshi cuisine
Bangladeshi cuisine (Bangla or East Bengali cuisine) is the rice-and-river-fish delta cuisine of Bangladesh, built on mustard oil, panch phoron, and hilsa (ilish), served in formal courses, more beef-forward than West Bengal, and behind over 95% of British curry houses.
Bangle
A bangle is a rigid, ring-shaped bracelet, usually clasp-less so it slips over the hand, though some are hinged; it can also be worn on the forearm or ankle.