If you build it, they will come. And if you put it on the table, chances are someone is going to take it.

This includes, but is certainly not limited to, condiment sachets, paper napkins, individual coffee creamers, cracker packets, and just about anything else “not wrapped for individual sale” that can easily be stuffed into purses and/or pockets without a single qualm.

Whether it’s your best friend, grandma, crazy uncle or maybe even yourself doing the lifting, evidence of the petty pilfering can be found in drawers and car glove boxes across the nation – each with their own little cache of restaurant and sugar caddy bounty.
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Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe.

• Preserving Southern heritage and barbecue through quilting. - New York Times Magazine

• After an Iraqi restaurant in Massachusetts is vandalized, veterans stage an eat-in to show their support. - Eater

• A call to arms against celery: "If God had created celery, it would only have two stalks, because that's the most that almost any recipe ever calls for." - The Skint Foodie Kitchen

• For a good craft beer, don't forget to tap the criticism.– Phoenix New Times

• As New York City's H&H Bagels shutters, an heir to the doughy throne makes himself known. - Wall Street Journal

Sara Benincasa is an award-winning comedian, podcast host and author of the upcoming memoir "Agorafabulous! Dispatches Fom My Bedroom."

Diabetes is scary. But a world without Twinkies is hard to swallow.

Like other red-blooded Americans, I breathed a sweet sigh of relief when Hostess Brands announced that despite its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing it would not, in fact, cease production of Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, and other seductively-named products.

Hostess also announced that there would be no layoffs, but do we give a flying Yodel about that? After all, ours is a nation in love with dessert, especially when said dessert is crafted largely of saturated fat and sugar in a laboratory.
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“Nooo! Not my beloved Twinkies!”

Upon recent news of Hostess Brands filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the internet rose up with a collective wailing and gnashing of teeth. That’s to be expected, but honestly, how many of the bereft can recall the last time they actually sank said dentition into a store-bought, cream-filled snack cake?

I can. It was 2008, and my colleague Rachel and I were photographing cross-sections of Twinkies, Devil Dogs, Tastykakes, Ring Dings and other classic commercially-baked goods for a feature. We knew we’d have no problem pawning off the still-wrapped extras to the hungry hordes who’d been eyeing our work all afternoon, but it seemed like a transgression against our childhoods just to toss the others into the trash uneaten.
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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.

Today will curry favor with spice lovers - January 12 is National Curried Chicken Day!

Perhaps the best way to enjoy this exotic, spicy chicken is by indulging in chicken curry. One thing is for sure, you know exactly where you stand with this practically named dish.

Curry powder, saffron, ginger, masala powder and other spices form the base of an aromatic sauce to blend in with the chicken. Depending on the culture or region, "chicken curry" and "curry chicken" are either the same or completely different. Adding chicken to the curry sauce is considered to be chicken curry, but curry chicken can mean dredging the chicken in curry powder before cooking. It's all in the details, people!
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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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