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Festivus
Festivus is a secular parody holiday popularized by the 1997 Seinfeld episode "The Strike", celebrated December 23 with an aluminum pole, Airing of Grievances, and Feats of Strength, adapted from writer Dan O'Keefe's real family tradition begun in 1966.
Feta (φέτα)
Feta (φέτα) is the Greek PDO white brined cheese made from sheep milk or sheep with up to 30% goat milk in designated mainland and Lesbos regions, ripened at least two months in brine; protected since 2002.
Fetish fashion
Fetish fashion: dress style translating bondage and erotic codes (leather, latex, rubber, corsetry, straps, studs, chains) into clubwear and designer fashion; moved from 19th-century underground and gay leather scenes through punk, Westwood's Sex shop, Gaultier, Mugler and 1980s London clubs to the couture runway.
Fetish model
A fetish model poses in fetish clothing and accessories, presenting their body to reflect fetish aesthetics. This work is strongly sexual but does not require nudity.
Fettuccine Alfredo
Fettuccine Alfredo, or fettuccine all'Alfredo, is a Roman pasta dish of fettuccine, butter, and Parmesan created in 1908 by Alfredo Di Lelio; the American cream-based version differs, and the dish is far better known in the United States than in Italy.
Feuerzangenbowle
Feuerzangenbowle (fire-tongs punch) is a German flaming Christmas punch: spiced mulled red wine topped by a burning rum-soaked sugarloaf (Zuckerhut) over 54% ABV, famed via the 1944 Rühmann film.
Fez (hat)
Fez (tarboosh, fes): brimless red felt cap with tassel, named for Fez, Morocco. Mandated across the Ottoman Empire by Mahmud II in 1826 and 1829; banned in Turkey by the Hat Law of 1925; survives in North Africa and religious dress.
Fibula (brooch)
Fibula (brooch): ancient garment fastener, Greek perone, working like a safety pin with pin, body, and catch. Worn from the late Bronze Age to the early Middle Ages, made of bronze, silver, or gold, and classified by type series such as Blinkenberg's.
Fidget spinner
Fidget spinner: a finger-spun toy of two or three weighted prongs around a central bearing, patented by Catherine Hettinger (patent expired 2005), a 2017 craze marketed for ADHD without scientific support.
Fifty pence (British coin)
The fifty pence (50p) is a British coin introduced in October 1969 to replace the ten-shilling note. Known as the world's first seven-sided equilateral curve heptagon coin, it was resized in 1997 and has carried over 100 designs including Kew Gardens.
Figlinae
Figlinae (singular figlina) were Roman pottery and brick workshops producing bricks, tiles, dolia, and amphorae, known mainly from stamped products; distinct from the Esquiline district Figlinae and the road station Ad Figlinas near Genoa.
Fiji Water
Fiji Water is an American-owned brand of bottled artesian water drawn from a single aquifer in Fiji, founded in 1996 and sold in over 80 countries.
Fila
Fila (spelled FILA), sportswear brand founded 1911 in Biella, Italy, by the Fila brothers; tennis collection and F-Box logo from 1973; owned by South Korea's FILA Korea since 2007, renamed Misto Holdings in 2025; distinct from Italian stationery firm F.I.L.A. Group.
Filé powder
Filé powder, also called gumbo filé or kombo, is ground dried sassafras leaves used in Louisiana Cajun and Creole cooking to thicken and flavor gumbo; added off heat, Choctaw in origin, exempt from the 1960 safrole ban.
Filet mignon
Filet mignon (fillet steak) is a thick, extremely tender, very lean steak cut from the beef tenderloin (psoas major), the priciest steak cut, cooked rare to medium rare and first printed on an 1899 New York menu.
Filet-O-Fish
Filet-O-Fish: McDonald's fish sandwich invented in 1962 by Cincinnati franchisee Lou Groen for Catholic Friday abstainers; won a 350-to-6 contest against Ray Kroc's Hula Burger; Alaska pollock, steamed bun, tartar sauce.
Filipino cuisine
Filipino cuisine, the food of the Philippines, blends indigenous Austronesian traditions with Chinese, Spanish-Mexican, and American influences, known for sour dishes like adobo, sinigang, and regional specialties such as Cebu's lechon.
Filippo Sorcinelli
Filippo Sorcinelli (born 1975, Mondolfo) is an Italian artist, organist, and perfumer; founder of the LAVS atelier in Santarcangelo di Romagna, he has made vestments for popes Benedict XVI, Francis, and Leo XIV, and launched the UNUM fragrance line in 2014.
Filmfare Award for Best Costume Design
Filmfare Award for Best Costume Design, a technical Filmfare Award (Hindi cinema) given to costume designers; created after Rangeela (1995), first won by Manish Malhotra, with recent winners Veera Kapur Ee (2022) and the Sam Bahadur team (2024), plus a series equivalent at the Filmfare OTT Awards.
Filo (φύλλο)
Filo (φύλλο, phyllo, fillo), Greek for "leaf", is paper-thin unleavened dough layered with brushed butter or oil for baklava, spanakopita, and börek; unlike puff pastry, its fat is applied between sheets, not laminated into the dough.
Finger heart
Finger heart (손가락 하트, songarak hateu): a one-hand gesture crossing thumb and index finger into a tiny heart, meaning affection. Originating in South Korean pop culture around 2010, it spread globally via K-pop and the Korean Wave, distinct from two-handed heart poses.
Fingerless gloves
Fingerless gloves are hand coverings that leave the fingers exposed while the palm and back stay covered, trading fingertip warmth for dexterity in uses from Victorian mitts to cycling.
Finnish cuisine
Finnish cuisine, the Nordic cooking tradition of Finland (suomalainen ruokakulttuuri), centers on rye bread, fish, berries and potatoes, with dishes like karjalanpiirakka and kalakukko, Russian-influenced eastern flavors, and eight Michelin-starred restaurants as of 2026.
Finnish sauna
Finnish sauna (savusauna, puusauna, sähkösauna): heated-room bathing practice central to Finnish identity, about 3 million saunas for 5.5 million people, roughly 90 percent weekly use, löyly steam on stones, UNESCO intangible heritage 2020.
Fireball Cinnamon Whisky
Fireball Cinnamon Whisky is a Sazerac-owned, Canadian-whisky-based cinnamon liqueur at 33% ABV (66 proof), begun as Seagram's Dr. McGillicuddy's in 1984, rebranded in 2007, and sold alongside lower-proof malt and wine-based Fireball Cinnamon products for beer and wine stores.
Firehouse Subs
Firehouse Subs: American fast-casual sub sandwich chain founded 1994 in Jacksonville, Florida by firefighter brothers Chris and Robin Sorensen; steamed subs, Hook & Ladder menu, Public Safety Foundation, RBI-owned since 2021 for $1.0 billion.
First Growth
First Growth (Premier Cru Classé) refers to the five top-ranked red wine estates of Bordeaux's 1855 classification: Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Margaux, Mouton Rothschild, and Haut-Brion, ranked by brokers on price and reputation, changed only by Cantemerle's 1855 addition and Mouton's 1973 promotion.
Fish and chips
Fish and chips: battered deep-fried white fish with thick-cut fried potatoes, Britain's classic chippy takeaway. Combined in the 1860s in London or Lancashire from Jewish fried-fish and northern chip traditions; unrationed in both world wars.
Fish maw
Fish maw (dried swim bladder, 花膠-style delicacy) is one of the four seafood treasures of Chinese cuisine; a luxury trade worth hundreds of millions, driving totoaba poaching and vaquita bycatch, authenticated by DNA barcoding.
Fish sauce
Fish sauce (nước mắm, nam pla, patis) is a translucent condiment of fermented fish and salt, central to Southeast Asian cooking. Codex requires ≥6 months fermentation, ≥10 g/l nitrogen, ≥200 g/l salt; garum is its Roman ancestor.