Watch the Green Solutions in Focus: Eatocracy Edition hour-long special hosted by Tom Foreman on Saturday, April 23rd at 3pm ET and see all Earth Day coverage at eatocracy.com/infocus

Previously - High above Manhattan, a vegetable garden grows and Edible garden taken to a whole new level
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5@5 is a daily, food-related list from chefs, writers, political pundits, musicians, actors, and all manner of opinionated people from around the globe.

Just because you're a dude doesn't mean your culinary ventures have to be modeled after Epic Meal Time. Sometimes, a man just wants to make a really, really good omelet - without it being bacon-wrapped or deep-fried.

For such times comes chef Marcus Samuelsson's FoodRepublic.com, a food and lifestyle website specifically geared toward food-obsessed men, and its editorial director Richard Martin.

Five Kitchen Tricks Every Man Should Know: Richard Martin
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Yesterday, we were positively delighted to learn that Kelly Ripa is as fascinated with political analyst David Gergen as we are - and even better, that she wanted to give him pie. Well here at Eatocracy, we're all about making culinary dreams come true - so we reached out to The Gergs himself to see what he had to say about it.

“Dinner with Kelly Ripa? Anderson tells me she is a dream but I have never imagined that I would have the pleasure of her company. So, yes, I would definitely enjoy a dinner with her and would happily include Anderson, her husband Mark, and my own bride.

I only have one caution. She says she will bring pecan pie, and my southern soul would love that. But my team has just told me that she holds the Guinness World Record for throwing the most custard pies at someone in a single minute – 23! So, Kelly, please bring the pecans but leave the custard at home.”

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"Street food adds life and vibrancy to the city," says Greg Smith, President of the Atlanta Street Food Coalition, a group seeking to help entrepreneurs break into the industry.

While some cities, like Los Angeles, have long-standing street food scenes, others have sprouted up in recent years. Instead of the LA-style trucks that are truly mobile, cities like Portland, Oregon, and Austin, Texas, employ a model where more-or-less stationary carts and trailers gather in designated areas.

Other cities are developing models somewhere along that spectrum; Greg Smith thinks Atlanta will end up with a hybrid approach.

"There will be multiple 'food truck lots' around the city and the trucks might move on a daily basis from lot to lot," predicts Smith.
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Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe.

• Following Aziz Ansari's lead, we will now be referring to tortillas as "bean blankies" and fried chicken as "chicky-chicky fry-fry." - Eater

• Actresses eating in public: A phenomenon explored. - Slate

• Composting farm-to-table scraps sends the table back to the farm. - Business Week

• Don't steal Mommy's juice! Two mom-marketed wine companies are in a trademark battle over the use of the word "mommy." - TIME

• Making a toaster from scratch is really freaking hard. - Gizmodo

Watch the Green Solutions in Focus: Eatocracy Edition hour-long special hosted by Tom Foreman on Saturday, April 23rd at 3pm ET and see all Earth Day coverage at eatocracy.com/infocus

Catch up on all of Eatocracy's wine-related coverage.
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Not all eggs are created equal in the eyes of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Kinder Eggs, a popular European chocolate egg that contains a toy inside, is banned from importation into the United States because it contains a "non-nutritive object embedded in it."

With the Easter holiday around the corner, the agency issued the reminder this week, warning that the candy is considered unsafe for children under 3. Last year, Customs and Border Protection seized 25,000 of them in 1,700 incidents.

Read the FULL STORY: "Easter reminder: Kinder Eggs banned in the United States"

While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday.

It’s already Friday, but an even better reason to start partyin', partyin' (yeah!) is that April 22 equals National Jelly Bean Day!

While you probably won’t find another jelly bean with Kate Middleton’s face on it, these colorful little candies come in so many flavors you won’t be able to get enough. Just ask Bertie Bott.

Just don’t confuse these tiny sweet beans with that cute guy trying to get your attention who is a few sandwiches short of a picnic, if you catch our drift. In the 1920s, “jelly bean” was a nickname for men who dressed well but had nothing else to recommend them.

So while you’re filling up your cart with jelly beans for the Easter basket, avoid that drugstore dandy the next aisle over - that is, unless you're into that type of thing.

Pssst! Got a sec to chat?

We are utterly thrilled when readers want to hang out and talk – whether it's amongst themselves or in response to pieces we've posted. We want Eatocracy to be a cozy, spirited online home for those who find their way here.

Consider the daily Coffee Klatsch post as your VIP lounge – the primary comments thread for readers who'd like to chat about topics not related to the articles we're running. That way, everyone knows where to find each other, and each post's comments section remains on topic.
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