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.

A mentor by definition is a trusted counselor. What's not inherently included in that definition is the form a mentor comes in.

As it were, a mentor can exist in many forms - from father to carpenter to chef.

Chef Jonathan Benno has worked in the kitchens of culinary notables like Thomas Keller and Tom Colicchio, and he willingly acknowledges the lessons he learned from them have been integral in his own success - from James Beard Awards to a "Best New Chef" title.

Benno is now an executive chef in his own right at his first solo project, Lincoln Restaurant, in New York City.

The student has now become the master.

Five Lessons Learned Through Cooking That I Now Pass Along: Jonathan Benno
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One of the appealing things about “Top Chef” is the simplicity of the final challenge: cook the best meal of your life. “Masters” has taken a slight twist on that, challenging the last chefs standing to cook a meal that represents their culinary lives.

But like with so much else this season, the final challenge was changed, too. Luckily, it actually worked to the show’s and the chefs’ benefit.

Mary Sue, Traci and Floyd were tasked with cooking a three-course meal. The first course needed to represent their first food memory; the second course called back to the meal that inspired them to become chefs.

For the third course, the chefs were each assigned a critic, and challenged to cook a dish based on the meal that inspired James Oseland, Ruth Reichl and Gael Greene to become food critics.

Read - 'Top Chef' crowns a new Master  (SPOILER ALERT!)

Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe.

• When flambé goes wrong: Several restaurant patrons are being treated for severe burns after a bananas foster accident. - St. Petersburg Times

• Guy Fieri makes an appearance in an Archie comic book. - Tampa Bay Online

• Roast chicken-flavored chips and Harry's "American" bread: what you'll find in the typical French supermarché. - David Lebovitz

• Philly Pinoy, a restaurant in the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, caters to Filipino crew members. - The Awl

• Starbucks is in full PR mode after an email began circulating online that claimed an employee was fired for being gay. - Gawker

A diet high in olive oil may help protect older people against strokes, which are the third leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease and cancer. The findings are in a study published in the journal Neurology.

A stroke occurs when an artery within the brain, or leading to the brain, becomes blocked by a clot or bursts. The brain becomes deprived of blood and oxygen carried in the arteries and begins to die.

Strokes become more common as we age – stroke risk doubles for each decade of life after age 55, according to the American Heart Association.

Read - "Olive oil may protect against strokes"

One night at a party, many years back, talk turned - as it often does at the very best soirees - to incumbent governors of Massachusetts. I've always asserted that the friend with whom I was chatting that fateful evening could, if he so chose, pass for member of the Kennedy family. Fine head of hair on that kid to this very day, and so I just assume everything that comes from his mouth as pertains to Bay State politics to be indisputable fact.

"Mint Romney," he said, "Will run for president someday."
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While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday.

So sweet, so rich, it must be fudge - June 16 is National Fudge Day.

Heating a mixture of sugar, butter and milk with chocolate (or peanut butter, or insert-your-favorite-flavor-here) creates perfect chemistry.  Considered to be a “Western” creation in the culinary world, fudge first made its name known in an 1888 letter.

A female college student at Vassar wrote that her schoolmate’s cousin made the confection and sold it in Baltimore.  Ms. Battersby got her hands on the recipe and debuted “fudge” at the Vassar Senior Auction.  Other women’s colleges jumped on the idea and soon, American fudge was born and appearing in candy kitchens and general stores everywhere.
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Summertime is nigh, and for seafoodie Ben Sargent, that means one thing: bring on the lobster rolls.

Sargent first clawed his way onto the food scene in 2010 as his underground, lobster-dealing alter ego "Dr. Claw," also affectionately referred to as "Tha Lobstah Pushah."

At the height of his crustacean career, Massachusetts-born Sargent was shelling out 150 rolls a night from his snug Brooklyn apartment to the lobster-loving masses - well, that is until the Department of Health paid him a little visit and scrubbed his whole shellfish stint.

Luckily, Sargent has since re-emerged - thus far without any DOH violations - as the host of “Hook, Line & Dinner” on the Cooking Channel.

Even more lucky for us, he has relapsed into his old lobster-pushing ways to deliver a few pointers on building the perfect lobster roll.

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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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