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Befana
La Befana (Befana), Italy's Epiphany witch: a broom-riding old woman who fills stockings on the night of 5 January with sweets for good children and coal for naughty ones; name corrupted from Epifania, roots in pre-Christian Roman winter rites.
Behati Prinsloo
Behati Prinsloo, Namibian model (born in Vanderbijlpark or Grootfontein, sources differ on 1988/1989), discovered by Sarah Doukas of Storm Models in Cape Town, Victoria's Secret Angel 2009, wife of Adam Levine.
Beignet
Beignet (French, plural beignets): a fried pastry. In France a batter-coated fritter; in New Orleans a square, holeless fried dough dusted with powdered sugar, Louisiana's official state donut since 1986.
Beijing cuisine (北京菜)
Beijing cuisine (北京菜, jingcai) is Beijing's hybrid cooking style, formed from Shandong, Manchu court, halal and Jiangnan influences; known for roasting, quick-frying and hot-pot techniques, roast duck, and time-honored restaurants like Quanjude and Donglaishun.
Belén Rodríguez
Belén Rodríguez (María Belén Rodríguez Cozzani, born 1984, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine model, showgirl and TV host active in Italy since 2004; breakthrough as runner-up (44%) on L'Isola dei famosi 2008, Sanremo 2011 co-host, host of Le Iene and Tu sì que vales.
Belgian Beer Weekend
The Belgian Beer Weekend is a free-admission beer festival held each September on the Grand-Place in Brussels, first held in 1998 and organized by Belgian Brewers, with about 60,000 visitors a year.
Belgian chocolate
Belgian chocolate: chocolate whose complete mixing, refining, and conching are done in Belgium under the Choprabisco Belgian Chocolate Code. Known for pralines (Neuhaus, Leonidas) and for supplying 20% of world industrial chocolate via Barry Callebaut, Cargill, and Puratos.
Belgian cuisine
Belgian cuisine (cuisine belge, Belgische keuken): the cooking of Belgium, split into Flemish beer-braised and Walloon French-leaning traditions, known for frites, mussels, waffles, chocolate, and UNESCO-recognized beer culture.
Belgian waffle
Belgian waffle, gaufre de Bruxelles or gaufre de Liège: waffle varieties from Belgium. Brussels style is rectangular, light, yeast or egg-white leavened; Liège is dense brioche dough with pearl sugar; the American version is a baking-powder adaptation popularized at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Belk
Belk is a Charlotte, North Carolina-based department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk, with roughly 300 stores across sixteen Southeastern states selling apparel, shoes, cosmetics, and home goods.
Bell-bottoms
Bell-bottom trousers, also known as flare jeans, are trousers that flare wide below the knee. They were a popular fashion icon in the 1960s and 1970s.
Bellini (cocktail)
Bellini: Venetian sparkling cocktail of white peach purée and Prosecco, invented by Giuseppe Cipriani at Harry's Bar, Venice, in 1948 (Oxford Companion says around 1945), named for painter Giovanni Bellini; IBA Contemporary Classic.
Ben & Jerry's
Ben & Jerry's, founded 1978 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in Burlington, Vermont, is an ice cream brand with an embedded social mission. Sold to Unilever in 2000 for $326 million with an independent board; now owned by The Magnum Ice Cream Company amid governance disputes.
Ben Cohen (businessman)
Ben Cohen (born 1951, Brooklyn, New York) is an American businessman who co-founded Ben & Jerry's ice cream with Jerry Greenfield in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, ran it as CEO until 1994, and now campaigns for its independence.
Ben Ford (chef)
Ben Ford (chef), son of Harrison Ford, is an American chef-restaurateur behind Beverly Hills' Chadwick and the 2004 Culver City gastropub Ford's Filling Station; trained at Chez Panisse, he works in wood-fire cooking, consulting, and the American Chef Corps.
Bénédictine
Bénédictine (D.O.M.) is a 40% ABV French herbal liqueur from Fécamp, Normandy, made from 27 secret herbs and spices, created by Alexandre Le Grand in 1863, now owned by Bacardi, and key to the Vieux Carré and Singapore Sling.
Bengal famine of 1943
The Bengal famine of 1943 (পঞ্চাশের মন্বন্তর) was a famine in British India's Bengal province during World War II, killing an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people.
Bengali cuisine
Bengali cuisine, also known as Bengali food or the Cuisine of Bengal, is the culinary tradition of the Bengal region, centered on rice, fish, and mustard oil.
Benihana
Benihana is an American teppanyaki restaurant chain founded in 1964 in New York by Rocky Aoki, known for chefs cooking at the table; owned by The ONE Group since 2024, separate from Benihana of Tokyo.
Benin Bronzes
Benin Bronzes: thousands of royal brass plaques, heads, and figures cast by the lost-wax method for the Oba of Benin, Nigeria; looted by Britain in 1897 and now the leading case in colonial-art restitution, with over 1,400 objects' title returned since 2021.
Benin coral beadwork
Benin coral beadwork is the royal bead tradition of the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria, in which red coral beads (ivie) mark the Oba's rank.
Benny the Bull
Benny the Bull, mascot of the NBA's Chicago Bulls, debuted in 1969 as the league's first mascot, was named after Ben Bentley, won Forbes' 2013 popularity ranking, and joined the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2017.
Bento (弁当)
Bento (弁当, obento) is a Japanese single-portion boxed meal, typically rice with fish or meat and pickled or cooked vegetables, packed to be eaten away from home.
Benty Grange helmet
Benty Grange helmet: seventh-century Anglo-Saxon boar-crested spangenhelm, first Anglo-Saxon helmet found, excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1848 at Monyash, Derbyshire; iron frame with horn plates, silver cross, boar crest; Weston Park Museum, Sheffield.
Beodangmal Folk Village
Beodangmal Folk Village (버당말민속촌) is a Korean seafood restaurant in Seongsan-myeon, Gangneung, licensed 1996, known for catfish spicy soup and cod head stew; not a heritage village attraction.
Berber carpets
Berber carpets are handwoven rugs made by Amazigh (Berber) women of the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria, with geometric motifs carrying symbolic meanings in Amazigh culture.
Beret
Beret: a round, flat, brimless cap of felted wool, also called the Basque beret or boina. Originating with Béarn shepherds in the Pyrenees, adopted by the Chasseurs alpins in 1891 and later elite military units worldwide.
Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman, founded in 1901 by Edwin Goodman and Herman Bergdorf, is a luxury department store at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street, Manhattan, with a 1928 Buchman & Kahn landmark building, a 1990 men's store, and ownership history running from Carter Hawley Hale to Neiman Marcus Group and Exemplar Luxury Group.
Berliner Weisse
Berliner Weisse is a pale, low-alcohol sour wheat beer from Berlin, fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus brevis, and Brettanomyces bruxellensis; once brewed by 700 Berlin breweries, now revived by craft brewers and served with raspberry or woodruff syrup.
Bernard Loiseau
Bernard Loiseau (1951–2003), French chef of La Côte d'Or in Saulieu; won three Michelin stars in 1991 with his light cuisine of essences, first chef listed on the Paris Bourse, died by suicide in 2003 amid Michelin and GaultMillau rating pressure.