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.

In his new book, "Jeffrey Saad's Global Kitchen: Recipes Without Borders," Cooking Channel host Jeffrey Saad takes home cooks on an international culinary tour without making them ever step foot outside the kitchen.

But never leaving your house doesn't sound like a heck of a lot of fun, now does it? Especially when there's soupe a l'oignon in Paris, ramen in Japan and kiwifruit in New Zealand on the other side.

Here's to eating, drinking and being merry - wherever your passport might take you.

Five Steps to Delicious Travels: Jeffrey Saad
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Kat Kinsman is a very proud member of and cheerleader for the Southern Foodways Alliance. That was not always the case.

The very first spoonful of grits I ever tasted was one jammed through my clamped lips and clenched teeth by the hand of my first real boyfriend. His other one was pinching my nostrils shut, and it quickly became a choice between perishing in a grimy, vinyl-upholstered booth in a Baltimore greasy spoon or choking down the food I'd eschewed for the first 18 years of my life. I opened up and swallowed hard.

I'm from Kentucky, and for a very long time, I didn't know what to do with that. It's a border state – neither quite the North nor the South, and to make matters more confusing, I spent ages 2 to 18 in Northern Kentucky, which isn't enthusiastically claimed by either side.

Some Cincinnatians enjoy a joke about the peril faced by passengers taking the lower half of a bridge connecting their fair city with the Bluegrass State just yonder over the majestic Ohio River. A Kentuckian will, naturally, wish to free their feet from the cruel and unusual imposition of those "shoes" those fancy Buckeye staters insist upon and pitch them from the windows of their pickup trucks, endangering all below. Hardy har.
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Sink your teeth into today's top stories from around the globe.

• We like big buns and we can not lie! Where the dim sum-obsessed go in Hong Kong. - Wall Street Journal

• The greatest food on wheels? Washington D.C. now boasts a circus-themed food truck. - Huffington Post

• A raw look at the unwavering devotion of sushi masters. - Gilt Taste

• The meat industry claims that "pink slime" is a myth; the woman that started to petition to get the beef product out of schools responds to the claim. - Food Safety News

• Beijing's municipal government plans to correctly translate 3,000 Chinese dishes so visitors will no longer be confused by "chicken without sex life" or "red burned lion head." - China Daily

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

Cure all your coconutty cravings - March 13 is National Coconut Torte Day!

Indulge in creamy layers of flavor with the ultimate sugar addict's dessert, the torte, and enjoy some sweet coconut on top.

Rich and built up of three or more layers of cake, tortes are known for the luscious fillings in between. Rather than flour, ground nuts or even breadcrumbs make up the base, along with sugar, eggs and intense flavorings.
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