The American Dialect Society, or ADS, founded in 1889, has an annual WOTY (word of the year) nomination. Its annual meeting is in early January. Its quarterly publication is American Speech.
Ricotta is an Italian whey cheese. Whey is a "by-product" of cheesemaking containing roughly 50% of the remaining milk solids. Rather than waste it you can actually other cheeses. Norwegian brunost, or brown cheese, is an example of this.