A cupcake isn't always just a cupcake. Sometimes it's so noteworthy, it creates Cupcakegate. Just ask the nation's airport security officials.

Travelers carrying a "normal" cupcake will probably clear airport security, although additional screening may be required, according to a Transportation Security Administration blog post defending the agency's recent confiscation of a cupcake. The post, titled "Cupcakegate" was published Monday and promised to be "short and sweet."

As communications professor Rebecca Hains learned last month, an unorthodox cupcake in a jar may violate U.S. Transportation Security Administration carry-on limits on liquids and gels, warns TSA's official blogger. At least sometimes.

Hains tried to carry a cupcake in a Mason jar, packaged that way by the bakery for easy shipping, through airport security on the way home from a holiday trip.

Read - TSA defends cupcake confiscation

Previously - The TSA won't swipe your pie – but will they take the cake?

Binge drinking is a bigger problem in the United States than previously thought. Adults binge drink more frequently and consume more drinks when they do, according to the CDC.

Ursula Bauer, Director of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, announced the findings during a telebriefing Tuesday. “Excessive alcohol consumption, including binge drinking, accounts for 80,000 deaths in the U.S. each year,” she said, “making it the third leading preventable cause of death.” Those deaths are typically the result of motor vehicle crashes or violence against others while under the influence.

“Binge drinking,” said Bauer, “is defined as consuming four or more drinks on an occasion for women and five or more drinks on an occasion for men.” The new numbers from the CDC's January Vital Signs report reveal that 1 in 6 adults in the United States binge drink, usually 4 times per month, and consume an average of 8 drinks per occasion.

Read "Americans binge drinking more" on CNN Health's The Chart.

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

• Pasta by design. - New York Times

• Country ham with gravy as red as Andrew Jackson's hungover eyes. - The Communal Skillet

• For a clean kitchen, clean, clean and clean again. - Tampa Bay Online

• You don't know Jack about the history of Jack Daniel's. - Business Insider

• If you're in the restaurant business, this is perhaps a perfect example of what NOT to do on social media. Rule number 1? Don't call a customer a term that rhymes with "witch." - UnMarketing

Food in the Field gives a sneak peek into what CNN's team is eating, and the food culture they encounter as they travel the globe. Jeremy Harlan is a CNN photojournalist currently covering the New Hampshire primary. He has a hungry baby and he loves Vienna sausage.

"His name must be Mikey, because I think he likes it."

First, my name isn't Mikey. Second, I ate Life cereal almost every morning of my childhood and this particular "it" tasted nothing like Life. Third, I wanted to tell my fellow Nashua, New Hampshire diner patron that I wasn't ready to proclaim my fondness for this new taste.

I have found myself in the Granite State for my third Presidential campaign cycle. I think I've been in at least half the state's diners - most while shooting candidates pressing the flesh, posing for photos, and pleading for votes. For me, these events usually involve side-stepping pie displays, barging in on folk's breakfasts, and generally being a pain in the sides of hard-working cooks and waitresses.
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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.

It's a bittersweet symphony - January 10 is National Bittersweet Chocolate Day!

For those who think that milk chocolate is sweeter than a toothache, bittersweet chocolate comes to the rescue. With its tangy balance of bitter cocoa and tiny bit of sugar, it should be enough to satisfy your darkest chocolate cravings.

Usually, bittersweet chocolate begins completely unsweetened, and then less than a third of sugar is added, along with cocoa butter and vanilla. If you look on the package, it will have a percentage of cocoa listed on the front. Just remember: the higher the number, the less sweet the chocolate.
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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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