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.

Bill Smith has been the chef at Crook's Corner, a restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for nearly two decades.  In 2011, Crook's Corner was honored with The James Beard Foundation's America's Classic Award - a distinction for locally owned restaurants "beloved in their regions for quality food that reflects the character of their community," according to the Foundation.

In addition to his cookbook Seasoned in the South, Smith often writes on the topic of immigrants in the professional kitchen - including recipes inspired by staff and his own travel journals from Mexico.

"In a restaurant kitchen, chances are good that your dishwasher won’t speak English as a first language. There are lots of reasons for this," says Smith.

"For starts, you can wash dishes in any language so a lack of English needn’t be a hindrance to the new arrival. I’ve been a chef for over twenty years. Here are five things to be said in favor of continuing this custom, offered in a time when people are being very snippy about these very nice people."
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It may not have been pretty, but it sure was delicious and four days after the fact, I'm still dreaming about this meal. We do an awful lot of asking people to finish the sentence, "It's not Thanksgiving without..." but I suppose I've never answered the question here myself.

That'd be the plate above, laden with turkey, my husband's squash casserole, and sweet potatoes, barbecue and collard greens made with skill, practice and a whole of love by my friend Eric. He's a talented cook to be sure, but I happen to believe he's got a certain amount of divine guidance on his side in the form of our friend Mama Diva, with whom we used to gather and eat this very meal each year.
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Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe.

• Accio table manners! New Hogwarts-inspired dining halls hope to teach the little ones how to properly hold their fork. - Daily Mail

• Should severely obese child be taken from their parents? - ABC News

• RoboCop has nothing on the RoboCup...o' noodles. - Laughingsquid.com

• Fish served at restaurants may soon be DNA-tested to show that it's the actual fish or caviar you ordered. - Physorg.com

• Chinese NBA star Yao Ming applies a full-court press on the growing Chinese wine market by starting Yao Family Wines. - Wall Street Journal

Life just got a little sweeter thanks to a native West African fruit about the size of a cranberry.

The miracle fruit, “miracle berry,” or more formally Synsepalum dulcificum contains a glycoprotein – conveniently named miraculin - that temporarily fools taste buds into believing that sour and bitter things taste sweet.

Chef Homaro Cantu of Chicago's Moto and iNG restaurants is on a mission to work miracles of his own by using the berry in his restaurants – and beyond.
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From the experts at CareerBuilder.com

"If you're out with five co-workers and you're the sixth person, just take the full amount of the lunch total, add a 20 percent gratuity, and divide by six," Oliver says. "This will prevent all sorts of nickel and diming and help keep group morale high."

So despite the fact you had a $6 salad and your co-worker had a $15 pulled-pork po'boy, just grin and bear it — eventually you'll be ordering the high- ticket item, and it will all even out over time. It's not worth the drama between your co-workers and the hassle for the server to split the tab unevenly.

Read – Workplace lunch dilemmas: Who pays!?

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

Vive la toast! - November 28 is National French Toast Day!

You couldn't ask for a better jumpstart into Cyber Monday and the holiday shopping frenzy than chowing down on the carbohydrate and sugar dream team that is French toast! Whether you prefer it for breakfast, lunch or dinner - we don't judge - make sure you get your maple syrup fix today.
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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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