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.

Pumpkin is a delicious, thoroughly American ingredient that has been ubiquitously linked to Thanksgiving and pie since that autumn eve more than 300 years ago.

And while everybody who is anybody loves them some pumpkin pie, sometimes it's fun to try a new spin on a classic. That's where Claire Thomas comes in.

Thomas, the host of "Food for Thought," says no matter how you roast bake, or purée it, you can enjoy pumpkin from now until the patch is empty - without breaking out the pie dish.

Five Ways to Enjoy Pumpkin That Doesn't Include Pie: Claire Thomas
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Alec Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr. did it. So did Zach Galifianakis and Jon Stewart. Table bussing is generally one of the lowest-paid, least glamorous restaurant gigs, but it's almost a rite of passage for those entering the service industry.

The word "busboy" (or girl) comes from a combination of "bus," derived from omnibus - meaning ‘dealing with numerous objects and items at once - and "boy," because at the time (1910 or so) most positions were filled by young men.

Duties typically include removing finished plates and glasses, resetting tables and, fairly often, cleaning up diners' spills and messes. Restaurant labor was divided this way so that servers could spend more time tending to tables. Some restaurants even go as far as to separate table setting, bussing, refilling water and food running into individual jobs.
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Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe.

• Making memories of water: when food pairings dabble in the psychotic. - New York Times

• Waffle tacos, macaroni and cheese burgers and other foods that really should exist. - College Humor

• McDonald's is launching its own in-store television channel. No word as to what time "Grimace the Menace" comes on just yet. - Los Angeles Times

• Teas and cheese. Who says wine gets to have all the fromage fun? - Globe and Mail

• An open letter to wine newbies about finding their oenophilic "edge." - Wine Spectator

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

Cake for one! - October 18 is National Chocolate Cupcake Day.

Dedicating an entire day to the absolutely exquisite joy that is the chocolate cupcake equals justified bliss. Peel off the foil and get snacking, you've got all day to treat yourself.

Garnering a first mention in Amelia Simms' "American Cookery" in 1796 as a "cake to be baked in small cups," these diminuitive, decadent desserts officially became known as cupcakes in Eliza Leslie's 1828 "Receipts" cookbook. The nickname stuck after chefs started baking cakes in pottery cups; their size closely resembled teacups, so "cupcake" became the name.
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