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Wonder Bread
Wonder Bread: American packaged white bread brand founded 1921 in Indianapolis by Taggart Baking, named by Elmer Cline after balloon races; early presliced bread, FTC 1971 case, owned by Flowers Foods since 2012.
Wonka Bar
Wonka Bar: fictional chocolate bar from Roald Dahl's 1964 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, made real by Quaker Oats for the 1971 film, later Nestlé, now Ferrero with a 2026 Netflix-tied relaunch.
Wonton
Wonton (馄饨, húntun; Cantonese 云吞, Sichuan 抄手) is a Chinese dumpling of minced pork or shrimp in a thin square wheat wrapper, boiled and served in broth or with chili oil; recorded since the Western Han and split from jiaozi by the Tang dynasty.
Woodford Reserve
Woodford Reserve: Brown-Forman's Kentucky straight bourbon, launched 1996 at the historic Labrot & Graham distillery in Versailles; 72/18/10 mash bill, triple pot distillation, 90.4 proof, Official Bourbon of the Kentucky Derby since 1999.
Woolworths Group (Australia)
Woolworths Group Limited (ABN 88 000 014 675), Australian retailer founded with its first Sydney store in December 1924, renamed from Woolworths Limited in 2017; holds 38% of Australian supermarket grocery sales per the ACCC 2025 inquiry.
Woolworths Supermarkets
Woolworths Supermarkets, the Fresh Food People brand of Woolworths Group, is Australia's largest supermarket chain: founded 1924 in Sydney, 38% grocery market share, 1,112 Australian and 181 New Zealand stores, subject to the mandatory Grocery Code and ACCC pricing proceedings.
Worcestershire sauce
Worcestershire sauce, made famous by Lea & Perrins, is a fermented vinegar-and-anchovy condiment created by chemists Lea and Perrins in Worcester, England, sold from 1837, matured 18 months, now owned by Kraft Heinz and exported to over 130 countries.
Workers United
Workers United is an SEIU-affiliated labor union formed March 21, 2009, representing 86,000+ workers in apparel, laundry, food service, hospitality, and related industries in the US and Canada, and known for the Starbucks Workers United organizing campaign.
World Central Kitchen
World Central Kitchen (WCK) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2010 by chef José Andrés after the Haiti earthquake, serving chef-prepared meals in disaster and war zones, including Ukraine and Gaza, where seven workers were killed in April 2024.
World Food Day
World Food Day, observed 16 October since 1981, was established by FAO Conference Resolution 1/79 in 1979 to mark FAO's 1945 founding and promote action against hunger, with annual themes in about 150 countries.
World Health Day
World Health Day, observed 7 April since 1950, marks the 1948 founding of the WHO; each year has a theme, such as 2025's maternal health focus and 2026's Stand with science.
Worry beads
Worry beads, Greek komboloi (κομπολόι), are secular bead loops used in Greece and Cyprus for relaxation, with odd 4n+1 bead counts, papas head bead, tassel, amber or faturan beads, descended from the komboskini prayer rope.
Worry doll
Worry dolls, or muñecas quitapenas, are tiny handmade Guatemalan figures of likely Maya origin; users tell one worry to each doll, place it under the pillow at night, and the tradition says the doll takes the worry away.
Worshipful Company of Drapers
The Worshipful Company of Drapers, a Great Twelve livery company of the City of London ranked third in precedence, chartered by Edward III in 1364, incorporated 1438, holder of the 1439 arms grant, based at Drapers' Hall.
Worshipful Company of Weavers
The Worshipful Company of Weavers is the oldest City of London livery company, recorded in the 1130 Pipe Roll and chartered by Henry II around 1155; today it supports the UK textile industry and offender rehabilitation charities.
Worst Cooks in America
Worst Cooks in America is a Food Network reality cooking competition running since 2010, in which bad home cooks or celebrities train in a boot camp; defined by Anne Burrell's long hosting run and post-2025 seasons hosted by Jeff Mauro and Tiffany Derry.
Worsted
Worsted: wool yarn and fabric spun from combed, parallel long-staple fibers, giving smooth, strong, tightly twisted yarn and hard-finished cloth; named for Worstead, Norfolk; the combed counterpart to carded woolen, used for suiting and fine knitwear.
Wort
Wort: (1) the sugary malt-extract liquid, 80-90% water, that yeast ferments into beer, made by mashing and boiled with hops; (2) an archaic Old English word (wyrt) for plant or herb surviving in names like St. John's wort and mugwort. Also German Wort (word).
Wrigley Company
Wrigley Company (Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company), founded April 1, 1891 by William Wrigley Jr. in Chicago, maker of Juicy Fruit, Spearmint, Doublemint, and Orbit gum; acquired by Mars, Incorporated in 2008 for $23 billion and now part of Mars Wrigley Confectionery.
Wudan (武旦)
Wudan (武旦) is the martial female role type in Chinese opera, split into short-fight wudan and long-armor daomadan, known for weapon-throwing tricks (打出手), acrobatic combat, and roles like Sun Erniang and Mu Guiying.
Wycinanki
Wycinanki, pronounced vee-chee-non-kee, are Polish folk papercuttings, colored designs cut with sheep shears to decorate rural cottages, developed from the 19th century in several regions.
Xanthan gum
Xanthan gum (E 415, INS 415) is a microbial polysaccharide made by fermenting sugars with Xanthomonas campestris; a shear-thinning thickener and stabilizer used in food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and oil drilling, FDA-approved in 1969.
Xiaolongbao (小笼包)
Xiaolongbao (小笼包, also 小笼馒头): Jiangnan soup dumplings with thin unleavened wrappers around pork filling containing aspic that melts into broth. Origin credited to Huang Mingxian's Ri Hua Xuan in Nanxiang, Shanghai, in 1871; national intangible heritage item Ⅷ-160.
Ximena Navarrete
Ximena Navarrete (Jimena Navarrete Rosete), Mexican model and actress born 1988 in Guadalajara, won Miss Universe 2010 in Las Vegas as Mexico's second titleholder after Lupita Jones; later actress in La Tempestad and pageant judge.
Xmas
Xmas is an informal written abbreviation of Christmas; the X is the Greek letter chi, first letter of Christos (Christ), attested in forms from c. 1100 and Xmas from 1721-1755.
XO sauce (XO酱)
XO sauce (XO醬) is a chunky umami chili condiment invented in 1980s Hong Kong from dried scallops, dried shrimp, and Jinhua ham. Named after XO cognac, it contains no brandy and was first bottled commercially by Lee Kum Kee in 1992.
Xuan paper
Xuan paper (宣纸) is a handmade Chinese paper from Jing County, Anhui, made of blue sandalwood bark and rice straw and prized for calligraphy and ink painting.
XXXX (beer)
XXXX (four-ex) is an Australian beer brand brewed since 1878 by Castlemaine Perkins at Milton, Brisbane, now owned by Lion (Kirin). Known for XXXX Bitter (1924) and XXXX Gold (1991), it is a Queensland icon whose Xs mark traditional beer strength.
Yagyū Muneyoshi
Yagyū Muneyoshi (柳生宗厳, 1527 or 1529 to 1606), known in his later years as Sekishūsai, was a Japanese swordsman from Yamato Province who founded the Yagyū branch of Shinkage-ryū swordsmanship.
Yakiniku (焼肉)
Yakiniku (焼肉), Japanese tabletop grilled meat with Korean origins from bulgogi and galbi, developed by Zainichi Koreans in postwar black markets; named in the 1950s, with 20,997 restaurants by 2004.