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.

As the winter months settle in, so does our urge to permanently hibernate alongside the biggest and heartiest plate of comfort food we can get our mittened hands on.

And while visions of chicken pot pie and spaghetti and meatballs may have immediately started dancing in your head, comfort food can be just as satisfying in meat-free form - at least if Alyssa Gorelick, the executive chef of Fern, Flavors from the Garden, in Charlotte, North Carolina, has anything to say about it.

Comfort Dishes Where You Won’t Miss The Meat: Alyssa Gorelick
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Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite holiday. It’s the one day of the year that’s off-limits on my calendar for anything other than family, dear friends and my complete and total domination of the kitchen. No work, no crazy international travel schedule; it’s all about bringing loved ones together to share an amazing traditional holiday meal complete with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, the works.

This year, however, work and my favorite holiday collided. My team and I at EarthEcho International, the environmental education nonprofit I co-founded with my mother and sister, had just taken the wraps off of a new tool for educators and students to help them explore the environmental and health impact of daily food choices called What’s On Your Fork?

In fact, the main element of this resource is a guide created in collaboration with the Meatless Monday campaign to help students start each week with options for healthy, environmentally friendly meat-free alternatives. You can see where I might be feeling a little conflicted about my poultry-centered food extravaganza.

Should the bird stay on the menu?
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Niki Gianni was 11 or 12 when she found a video on YouTube called "Meet Your Meat." Saddened and disgusted by the footage from a slaughterhouse, the Chicago girl announced she was no longer going to eat meat. Her parents were less than thrilled.

"When she first said she wanted to be a vegetarian, we were just looking at each other and we said, 'We can't be switching meals for you. You are not going to get your protein.' We were not educated in the health benefits," said Gianni's mother, Julie Gianni.

While many parents worry whether their vegetarian or vegan children will receive adequate nutrition for their growing bodies, the American Dietetic Association says such diets, as long as they are well-planned, are appropriate for all phases of life, including childhood and adolescence. "Appropriately planned" vegetarian or vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases, the dietetic association says.

Read Young vegetarians: Getting the nutrition they need

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.

What do former President Bill Clinton, Russell Simmons and Ellen DeGeneres have in common?

If you said they all steer clear of animal products, then ding ding ding, we have a winner!

From international bake sales to critically acclaimed documentaries, veganism is officially mainstream - but that doesn't mean the plant-based diet still doesn't have its skeptics. Even the most devout of vegetarians shudder at the thought of the other "v" word, pledging their allegiance to the United States of Grilled Cheese.

If nixing dairy, meat, eggs and butter still sounds just as fun as stubbing your toe or sitting next to that person on the subway, chef Chloe Coscarelli - the first vegan to win a Food Network cooking competition - is here to make her case.

Why Veganism Isn't As Terrible As It's Made Out To Be: Chloe Coscarelli
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Ashley Strickland is an associate producer at CNN.com. She likes cajoling recipes from athletes and studying up on food holidays.

After the “office funk” attacked for the third time this fall, I decided to take action. I needed to find an antioxidant powerhouse with the strength to fight off any and all germs and allergies. The usual suspects just weren’t cutting it and I needed a new weapon.

During my frantic search, I stumbled upon something with such a miraculous list of healthy ingredients, I couldn’t say no. And last week, I’m proud to say that green soup entered my life.
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Food says so much about where you’ve come from, where you’ve decided to go, and the lessons you’ve learned. It’s geography, politics, tradition, belief and so much more and this week, we invite you to dig in and discover the rich, ever-evolving taste of America in 2011. The week will culminate with a Secret Supper in New York City, and Eatocracy invites you to participate online starting Monday July 11th at 6:30 p.m. E.T.

You can tell a lot about a place from the kinds of vegetables (and fruits) eaten there. Crops vary from place to place, and growing season to growing season.

As part of the cultural census for CNN's Defining America, we took a look at the things people eat for dinner.

When we looked at the submissions that came in, it was interesting to see how the people who responded to the assignment were consuming different sorts of produce around the country.
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Yesterday, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) announced their annual Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrities.

Russell Brand squashed the competition and was named the sexiest male vegetarian, while Kristen Wiig, from the summer box-office hit "Bridesmaids," beet out the rest of the plant-eating starlets to win the female title.

PETA has been holding the contest since 2001 - and past winners include the likes of Shania Twain, Tobey Maguire and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.

However we, being the equal opportunists that we are, feel the need to beef up the competition.
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"My dish is about changing the paradigm...Eating a veggie burger can be just as celebrated as a bacon cheeseburger.”

Unfortunately for Top Chef Masters contestant Suvir Saran, said burger, prepared for a meat-loving lass from the cast of The Biggest Loser, changed only his status in the competition. The judging panel sent Saran packing after a few harsh comments about his "mashed potato patty wedged into a slice of pita," but he made a graceful exit.

"I made a dish that was about living better rather than tasting close to what one craves," said the chef, himself a vegetarian.

Still there was a hint of nervous anticipation in the air last night, when Saran and fellow contestant Mary Sue Milliken - who won the main challenge in the most recently aired episode - encountered the show's most outspoken judge, Saveur's editor-in-chief James Oseland near the red carpet at the James Beard Awards Gala.

Watch what happened when the trio met up.

World Vegetarian And Vegan News announced on April 1 that the upcoming royal wedding would be entirely free of animal products due to cultural, health and environmental concerns.

“Celebrity vegan cook Sarah Kramer is being brought over from Canada to advise on ingredients for the reworked royal wedding cake,” the post said.

The report was, of course, just an April Fools’ Day hoax. While Kramer won’t be crafting an egg-free, dairy-free cake for Prince William and Kate Middleton this coming weekend, she will be taking part in the in the third annual Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale along with more than 140 groups across six continents from April 23 through May 1.

“My favorite thing in the world is to watch someone who isn’t vegan eat a vegan cookie and watch their eyes open,” Kramer says. “I’m changing people’s minds one tummy at a time.”
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The nation’s leading vegetarian news and lifestyle magazine has admitted it “screwed up” by attempting to pass off meaty recipe photos as meatless in the pages of its magazine and online.

VegNews issued a mea culpa last week after a blogger outed the publication for using images of chicken and hamburgers from a royalty-free image service to illustrate recipes such as “veganized” Brunswick stew and “Magical Meatball Burgers.” The VegNews team defended its actions, attributing them to a lack of images of vegetarian dishes and the high costs associated with image-gathering, especially for an independent publication like VegNews.

This week, the magazine went a step further, vowing to never again let images of cooked animals carcasses grace its pages and promising to host a photo bank of vegan stock images.
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