38 Foods That Start With W (Complete List by Category)

Foods that start with W run from waffles and watermelon to wasabi and Worcestershire sauce. Wheat alone underpins most of the world’s bread, and the letter also covers wine, whiskey, walnuts, wontons and a set of Asian water vegetables that rarely appear in Western kitchens.

This guide lists 38 foods beginning with W, with what each one is, where it comes from and how it is used.

Foods Starting With W: Complete List

Grains and Baked Goods

Wheat

The gluten proteins in wheat — glutenin and gliadin — form an elastic network when hydrated and worked, trapping gas and allowing dough to rise. Almost no other grain does this, which is why wheat dominates bread baking worldwide. Bread wheat is hexaploid, carrying three complete genome sets from three ancestral grasses, which is part of why its genetics took so long to sequence.

Whole Wheat

Flour retaining the bran and germ rather than just the starchy endosperm. That means more fibre, more B vitamins and considerably more oil — and the oil is why wholemeal flour goes rancid within months while white flour keeps for a year or more. The sharp bran particles also cut gluten strands, which is why wholemeal loaves rise less.

Wild Rice

Not rice at all but the seed of an aquatic grass native to North America, and a staple of Anishinaabe peoples of the Great Lakes, who harvest it from canoes by knocking the grain into the boat. It has a chewier texture and a nuttier, smokier flavour than rice, and it takes much longer to cook.

Waffle

Batter cooked between two hot patterned plates, a technique dating to medieval Europe. Belgian styles are the best-known abroad and are themselves divided — the Brussels waffle is light and yeast-raised with deep pockets, while the Liège waffle is denser, made from a brioche-like dough studded with pearl sugar that caramelises against the iron.

Fruits and Vegetables

Watermelon

Around 92% water, which is where the name comes from, and native to Africa — seeds have been found in Egyptian tombs. The rind is entirely edible and is pickled across the American South and stir-fried in parts of Asia, so discarding it wastes roughly a third of the fruit. Seedless varieties are sterile triploids, produced by crossing plants with different chromosome counts rather than by genetic engineering.

Watercress

An aquatic member of the mustard family with a distinctly peppery bite. It ranks at or near the top of nutrient-density scoring systems that weight vitamins and minerals per calorie. Because it grows in flowing water it can carry liver fluke where livestock graze upstream, so wild watercress should be cooked rather than eaten raw.

Water Chestnuts

Not a nut but the corm of an aquatic sedge, and unusual in that it stays crisp no matter how long it is cooked. That texture survives because its cell walls are reinforced with ferulic acid, which resists the softening that heat causes in almost every other vegetable — the reason they are added to stir-fries specifically for crunch.

Watermelon Seeds

Usually discarded, though they are eaten across Africa, the Middle East and Asia — roasted and salted as a snack, or ground into flour and used to thicken stews. They are a good source of magnesium, iron and protein, and sprouting or roasting improves how well the minerals are absorbed.

Wax Apples

Bell-shaped tropical fruit with glossy skin ranging from pale green to deep red, related to the clove tree rather than to apples. The flesh is crisp, very light and only faintly sweet with a rose-like fragrance, and it is largely water — refreshing rather than rich.

Wampee

A South Chinese citrus relative bearing clusters of grape-sized fruit with thin brown-yellow skin and translucent, sharply tart flesh around large seeds. It is eaten fresh, made into jam, or preserved, and the leaves are used in traditional preparations.

Walla Walla Onions

Sweet onions from the Walla Walla valley in Washington state, where the soil is low in sulphur — sulphur compounds are what make onions pungent and make you cry, so less of it produces an onion mild enough to eat raw in slices. That same low sulphur means they do not store well and must be eaten within weeks.

Winter Squash

Squash harvested fully mature with hardened skin, which is what lets them keep for months in a cool room — as against summer squash like courgette, picked immature and highly perishable. Curing them in warmth for a week or two after harvest heals surface wounds and improves both sweetness and storage life.

Witlof

Belgian endive, produced by growing chicory roots in complete darkness so the leaves stay pale and tightly furled. Without light the plant produces no chlorophyll, which is what keeps the bitterness in check — exposure to light during growing turns it green and considerably harsher.

Asian Water Vegetables and Seaweeds

Water Spinach

A hollow-stemmed vine grown across Southeast Asia, unrelated to spinach, cooked fast over very high heat with garlic and chilli or fermented bean curd. The hollow stems stay crunchy while the leaves wilt, giving two textures in one mouthful. It grows so vigorously in warm water that it is a regulated noxious weed in parts of the United States.

Water Mimosa

A floating aquatic plant of Southeast Asia grown for its tender shoots, which have a mild, slightly nutty flavour and a distinctive spongy white tissue on the stems that keeps the plant buoyant. It is eaten raw in Thai salads and stir-fried, and its leaves fold when touched like the related sensitive plant.

Wakame

A brown seaweed cultivated mainly in Japan and Korea, silky rather than chewy when rehydrated, and the seaweed in most miso soup. It expands dramatically — a small handful of dried wakame becomes a bowlful — which regularly catches people out. It is also an aggressive invasive species outside its native range.

Fish and Meat

Wahoo Fish

A fast-swimming mackerel relative found in tropical waters worldwide, reaching speeds around 75 km/h. The flesh is firm, white and unusually mild for an oily-fish relative, with a delicate flake. It is prized by sport anglers and is known as ono in Hawaii.

Walleye Fish

A North American freshwater fish named for its reflective eye, which carries a tapetum lucidum — the same light-gathering layer found in cats — letting it hunt effectively at dusk and in murky water. Anglers exploit this by fishing low light. The flesh is regarded as among the best of any freshwater fish.

Whitebait

Not a species but a catch-all for the fry of various small fish, eaten whole — head, bones and all — usually floured and deep fried. In New Zealand the term refers specifically to juvenile galaxiids, which are seasonal, tightly regulated and extremely expensive.

Whiting

A slim North Atlantic member of the cod family with soft, delicate white flesh that cooks in minutes and falls apart if handled roughly. It is inexpensive and underrated, best floured and fried quickly rather than subjected to anything slow.

Water Buffalo

Farmed across Asia and in parts of Italy, giving meat that is leaner and lower in cholesterol than beef while tasting broadly similar. Its greater significance is dairy — buffalo milk is far higher in fat and solids than cow’s milk, and it is what genuine mozzarella di bufala is made from.

Dairy, Nuts and Condiments

Walnuts

One of the oldest tree foods known, cultivated in Persia for thousands of years. They are notable among nuts for being high in alpha-linolenic acid, a plant omega-3. The bitterness some people dislike sits in the papery skin, and much of it can be removed by blanching or by toasting and rubbing the nuts in a cloth.

Wasabi

Genuine wasabi is the grated rhizome of Eutrema japonicum, difficult to farm and expensive, and its heat degrades within about fifteen minutes of grating — which is why it is prepared at the moment of serving. The great majority of wasabi sold worldwide, including in many Japanese restaurants, is horseradish coloured green with mustard added.

Whey

The liquid remaining after milk curdles, long treated as waste and now a significant product in its own right — it is where whey protein powder comes from, and reheating it is how ricotta is made. It carries most of milk’s lactose, which is why whey-based products are not automatically suitable for the lactose intolerant.

Whipped Cream

Whipping forces air into cream, and the fat globules partially coalesce around the bubbles to stabilise them — which is why cream under about 30% fat will not whip at all. Cold matters: warm cream lets the fat soften and the foam collapses, so chilling the bowl and beaters genuinely helps.

White Chocolate

Made from cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids with no cocoa solids at all, which is why it is ivory rather than brown and why some jurisdictions historically disputed calling it chocolate. It has no cocoa flavour and scorches easily, since there are no cocoa solids to buffer the heat.

Wensleydale

A crumbly, mild, faintly honeyed cheese from North Yorkshire, originally made by Cistercian monks from sheep milk and later from cow’s milk. It is traditionally eaten with fruit cake in Yorkshire, and the modern versions blended with cranberries or apricots follow that pairing logic.

Worcestershire Sauce

A fermented condiment built on anchovies, tamarind, molasses, vinegar, onion and spices, matured for months — the anchovies break down completely, which is why the sauce tastes savoury rather than fishy. It is not vegetarian in its classic form. It descends from attempts to recreate an Indian sauce for the British market in the 1830s.

Wattleseed

Roasted and ground seed of several Australian acacia species, with coffee, chocolate and hazelnut notes. It is one of the significant Indigenous Australian foods now used in modern cooking, appearing in bread, ice cream and desserts. Only certain species are safe to eat, so it should be bought from a proper supplier rather than foraged.

Dishes and Drinks

Wonton

A thin wheat wrapper folded around a seasoned filling, usually pork and prawn, and served in soup, boiled, or deep fried. The wrapper is markedly thinner than a dumpling skin, which is what gives the characteristic silky trailing edges in soup. The name is often glossed as “swallowing a cloud”.

Welsh Rarebit

A savoury sauce of melted cheese with mustard, ale and often Worcestershire sauce, poured over toast and grilled — considerably more than cheese on toast, since the sauce is cooked separately. The older name was Welsh rabbit, an English joke implying the Welsh could not afford meat.

Wine

Among the oldest processed foods, with residue evidence of winemaking in Georgia dating back roughly eight thousand years. What separates it from grape juice is yeast converting sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide, and much of a wine’s character comes from compounds developed during fermentation and ageing rather than from the grape itself.

Whiskey

Distilled from fermented grain and aged in wooden casks, where nearly all the colour and much of the flavour develops — new-make spirit is clear and harsh. The spelling divides by country: Ireland and the United States generally use “whiskey”, Scotland, Canada and Japan “whisky”.

Wheat Beer

Brewed with a large proportion of wheat alongside barley, giving a lighter body, a persistent head from the extra protein, and a characteristic haze. German hefeweizen carries banana and clove notes produced by the yeast rather than by any added flavouring, and Belgian witbier is spiced with coriander and orange peel.

Wrap

A flatbread rolled around a filling — and while the format is ancient across many cuisines, the sandwich-shop “wrap” as a distinct category is a Californian invention of the late twentieth century that spread rapidly through chain menus.

Wheatgrass

The young shoots of the wheat plant, juiced and drunk as a shot. It is high in chlorophyll and some micronutrients, but the strongest health claims made for it are not well supported by evidence, and the grass itself is largely indigestible to humans, which is why it is juiced rather than eaten.

Wasabi Peas

Dried green peas coated in a starch shell seasoned with wasabi flavouring — nearly always horseradish and mustard rather than true wasabi. The coating is baked or fried to a hard crunch, and the heat hits the nose rather than the tongue because the active compounds are volatile.

Walnut Oil

Pressed from walnuts and used as a finishing oil rather than for cooking, since heat destroys its delicate flavour. Its high polyunsaturated content makes it go rancid quickly, so it should be bought in small bottles and kept refrigerated.

Frequently Asked Questions

What foods start with the letter W?

Thirty-eight are covered here, including wheat, whole wheat, wild rice, waffle, watermelon, watercress, water chestnuts, walnuts, wasabi, wonton, wine, whiskey, wheat beer, whipped cream, white chocolate, whey, Wensleydale, Worcestershire sauce, Welsh rarebit, wrap, winter squash, witlof, wakame, water spinach, water mimosa, wahoo, walleye, whitebait, whiting, water buffalo and wattleseed.

Is the wasabi in restaurants real?

Usually not. Most wasabi served worldwide is horseradish dyed green with mustard added, because real wasabi is hard to farm and expensive. Genuine wasabi also loses its heat within about fifteen minutes of grating, which is why it is prepared at the moment of serving.

Why do water chestnuts stay crunchy when cooked?

Their cell walls are reinforced with ferulic acid, which resists the heat-driven softening that affects almost every other vegetable. That is why they hold their texture through long cooking and are added to stir-fries specifically for crunch.

Can you eat watermelon rind?

Yes, all of it. The rind is pickled across the American South, stir-fried in parts of Asia and used in chutneys. Discarding it throws away roughly a third of the fruit.

Is white chocolate really chocolate?

It depends on the definition. It contains cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids but no cocoa solids, which is why it has no cocoa flavour and is ivory rather than brown. Some jurisdictions have historically disputed whether it may be labelled chocolate at all.

Is Worcestershire sauce vegetarian?

Not in its classic form — it is built on fermented anchovies. The fish breaks down entirely during months of maturing, which is why it tastes savoury rather than fishy, but it is still an animal product. Vegetarian and vegan versions exist and are labelled as such.

Sources

Ferulic acid and water chestnut texture: food science literature. Watercress and liver fluke risk from wild sources: public health guidance. Georgian winemaking residue dating: archaeological chemistry research. Bread wheat hexaploid genome: plant genetics literature.

This article is for general information. Never eat a foraged plant unless you are certain of its identification, and cook wild watercress rather than eating it raw.

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