Sentence:  Tea was a very special institution, revolving as it did around the ceremony and worship of <WSD>Toast</WSD>. In [public schools] where alcohol, tobacco and drugs were forbidden, it was essential that something should take their place as a powerful and public totem of virility and cool. <WSD>Toast</WSD>, for reasons lost in time, was the substance chosen. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Toasted bread.