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Collyer brothers
Homer and Langley Collyer, the Collyer brothers, were reclusive Harlem hoarders found dead in 1947 in their booby-trapped 2078 Fifth Avenue brownstone amid over 100 tons of debris; their case named Collyer brothers syndrome and inspired Doctorow's Homer & Langley.
Colombian cuisine
Colombian cuisine: the regional culinary traditions of Colombia, formed by indigenous, European, and African influences across Andean, Caribbean, Pacific, Llanos, Amazonian, and Insular regions, with dishes like bandeja paisa, ajiaco, sancocho, and many arepa varieties.
Colonel Sanders
Colonel Sanders, born Harland David Sanders (1890–1980), was the American founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). Honorary Kentucky colonel (1935), creator of the 11 herbs and spices recipe and pressure frying; sold KFC for $2 million in 1964 and remained its brand ambassador until his death.
Color in Chinese culture
Color in Chinese culture, or the traditional five-color system (五色), is a symbolic framework pairing blue-green, red, yellow, white, and black with the five phases, directions, seasons, ranks, and rituals, distinctive from all other national color systems.
Colt 45 (malt liquor)
Colt 45 is an American malt liquor brand introduced in 1963 by Baltimore's National Brewing Company, named for Colts running back Jerry Hill, now owned by Pabst, 5.61% ABV in the US, famous for Billy Dee Williams' "It works every time" slogan.
Columbia Sportswear
Columbia Sportswear Company (COLM), founded 1938 in Portland, Oregon as Columbia Hat Company, is a family-controlled outdoor apparel maker whose brands include Columbia, Mountain Hardwear, SOREL, and prAna, known for Omni-Heat and Omni-Tech technologies.
Columbus-style pizza
Columbus-style pizza, also called square, party, or tavern cut, is a Columbus, Ohio tradition: thin yeast-risen deck-oven crust, sweet-leaning sauce, provolone, edge-to-edge pepperoni, cut into small squares.
Come Dine with Me
Come Dine with Me is a British Channel 4 reality series (2005, MultiStory Media/ITV Studios) in which five strangers host dinner parties, secretly score each other out of 10, and the top host wins £1,000; narrated by Dave Lamb, adapted in 50 territories with over 20,000 episodes.
Comet Ping Pong
Comet Ping Pong is a wood-fired pizza pizzeria, bar, and music venue on Connecticut Ave NW in Cleveland Park, Washington, D.C., opened October 2006 by James Alefantis and Carole Greenwood, known for free ping pong and as the target of the false 2016 Pizzagate conspiracy and its armed "self-investigator" shooting.
Comfort food
Comfort food: foods providing emotional consolation and well-being, tied to nostalgia and childhood. Term traced to 1966-1977 US newspapers; US favorites include chips, ice cream; mood benefits debated.
Comforter
Comforter: a one-piece bed covering with insulating fill (down, wool, cotton, or polyester down alternative) between two fabric layers, built for loft and warmth; unlike a duvet it has no removable cover and is popular in the United States.
Coming of Age Day (成人の日)
Coming of Age Day (成人の日, Seijin no Hi) is a Japanese national holiday on the second Monday of January, created by the 1948 holidays law, originally on January 15, honoring new adults; most municipalities hold seijin-shiki ceremonies for 20-year-olds.
Comme des Garçons
Comme des Garçons, Japanese avant-garde fashion house founded by Rei Kawakubo (川久保玲; womenswear 1969, company 1973), Paris debut 1981, known for deconstruction, black, fragrance, and Dover Street Market.
Common Agricultural Policy
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP): the EU's longest standing policy, created 1962, supporting farmers, markets, and rural areas with €386.6 billion for 2021-2027 via direct payments, market measures, and rural development.
Compass Group
Compass Group PLC is a British contract food service and support services company on the London Stock Exchange, founded in 1941 as Jack Bateman's Factory Canteens, renamed Compass in 1984, with $46.1 billion FY2025 revenue across five sectors.
Competitive eating
Competitive eating, or speed eating, is a sport of consuming the most food in a fixed time, governed by Major League Eating and best known through Nathan's July 4 hot dog contest, the Kobayashi-Chestnut rivalry, and Chestnut's 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), the Philippines' land redistribution program under Republic Act 6657 of 1988, extended by CARPER in 2009; over 4.8 million hectares distributed to about 2.8 million beneficiaries, with parcelization and debt condonation ongoing toward a 2028 completion target.
Comté cheese
Comté: French AOP raw cow's milk cooked pressed cheese from the Jura massif, made in 40 kg wheels from Montbéliarde milk in cooperative fruitières, aged at least 120 days, France's largest AOP by tonnage.
Condensed milk
Condensed milk, also called sweetened condensed milk, is cow's milk concentrated by water removal with sugar added as preservative; distinct from unsweetened evaporated milk, which is sterilized. Invented commercially by Gail Borden in 1856.
Condiment
Condiment: a prepared sauce, relish, seasoning, or spice mixture added to food after preparation to enhance flavor; includes ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, chutney; classified under Codex Alimentarius category 12.2, distinct from seasonings added during cooking.
Coney Island hot dog
Coney Island hot dog (coney, coney dog): a Midwest hot dog topped with beanless meat chili or sauce, mustard, and onions, created by Greek and Macedonian immigrants who borrowed the New York resort's name, despite originating nowhere near Coney Island.
Confectionery
Confectionery, also known as sweetmeats or confections, is the class of sweet, sugar-rich foods including candies, sweets, and chocolate, together with the industry and craft that make them.
Confetti
Confetti: small pieces of paper, plastic, or natural material thrown at celebrations; from Italian confetto (sweetmeat). Paper form invented circa 1875 by Enrico Mangili in Milan; called coriandoli in Italian.
Confit
Confit (from French confire, to preserve): food, classically salt-cured duck or goose, slow-cooked fully submerged in fat at 80–120 °C and stored under the fat; a Gascon preservation technique, distinct from frying, braising, and confiture, now also applied to garlic, tomatoes, and fish.
Confit byaldi
Confit byaldi is a refined baked variation of ratatouille created by Michel Guérard in 1976, named after the Turkish imam bayıldı, and popularized worldwide by Thomas Keller's version in the 2007 Pixar film Ratatouille.
Congee
Congee (粥, jook, zhōu, okayu, cháo) is Asian rice porridge: rice simmered in excess water until grains break down. Etymology from Tamil kanji; documented since Zhou dynasty; eaten at 5:1–14:1 water ratios; IDDSI swallowing-safety relevance.
Conservation and restoration of textiles
Conservation and restoration of textiles (textile conservation) is the museum profession of stabilizing, cleaning, mounting, and documenting historic textiles, from tapestries to costume. Established mid-twentieth century; stitching over adhesives affirmed as the core stabilization technique; light and clothes moths are the dominant risks.
Consommé
Consommé: a French clarified soup, from consommer, made by simmering stock with egg whites that form a raft trapping impurities; rich, gelatinous, crystal-clear, up to 500 g meat per serving.
Continental knitting
Continental knitting, also called German knitting or picking, holds the working yarn in the left hand while the right needle picks each stitch. Faster than English throwing for most knitters, harder to purl, dominant in continental Europe.
Convenience food
Convenience food is food made quicker or easier to prepare through processing or packaging, spanning frozen TV dinners, canned goods, and instant meals; defined by reduced household labor, tied to Birdseye quick-freezing and Swanson's 1954 TV dinner.