4-H stands for "Head, heart, hands, health" and apparently a fifth - for "haters."

To many, 4-H Clubs are all about nurturing sweet little calves, adorable children winning ribbons, urban garden patches and proud future farmers grooming prized pigs for show. To others, it's a calculated system for turning the youth of America into cold, unfeeling animal killers.

When Eatocracy ran a 5@5 feature with chef Kelly Liken on the topic of Five Reasons to Buy from Your Local 4-H earlier this week, we quickly identified within the comments two distinct perceptions of the organization - which was originally set up by the United States Department of Agriculture to train the rural youth of America in hands-on skills like agriculture and raising animals. One was that 4-H promotes responsible animal husbandry and the cultivation of food resources in a responsible, ethical way and the other was that it serves to desensitize children to the suffering of animals.

Here's what our commenters had to say:
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In our daily slogs through the mean streets of the internet, it's often easy forget that sometimes things can be, well, nice. When we see them, we like to call 'em out. From comments on our article on North Carolina liver mush:

"Wow. This article brings up the fondest memories I have of my grandmother Mimi. She was born/raised in the south, and I remember many days of my adulthood spent making 'liver pudding' with Mimi and playing cards while it cooked. I love the stuff – the name gives you the wrong idea – it's actually like sausage. All that's in it is liver, pork chops, cornmeal, salt, pepper and cayenne. That's it. She passed away in 2002, but I still have her meat grinder, and from time to time I make the mush with my children and think of my wonderful grandmother." - Buddy from MN

Now don't you feel all nice and mushy inside?

In response to yesterday's feature Glue the wound, skip the stitches, a few cringe-inducing anecdotes from chefs, culled from the comments.

As 30-year kitchen veteran, The People's Chef wrote, quoting Jesse Ventura, "It's not a macho thing at all...I ain't got time to bleed."

A round of shots for the kitchen, please!

When you're in the weeds, you have no time to get stitches. You're already pissed at yourself for getting cut, so you just want to get back on the line and keep cooking. My old chef used to joke (i hope he was joking) that whenever he cut himself, he'd just sear the wound on the flattop, cauterizing, and go back to work. Sure, a lot of it is about machismo, but really it comes from not wanting to let the customers, or more importantly, the other kitchen staff down. If I'm gone to get stitches, they're screwed. - Gastrodude

Currently a line cook at a popular neighborhood bistro in Chicago...I can say I will have no hesitation to cauterize a cut with a non-stick or a knife held over the flame. Compared to oil or sugar burns, contact burns don't hurt at all. - Glenn

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"Ok, kids, listen up. A TACO is the same as a sandwich. A sandwich is ANY bread with your choice of fillings. A TACO, is a tortilla, CORN or FLOUR, with your choice of filling. Got it? Good! Now go and be confused no more." - Tu Mama Mexicana

In response to our lunchtime poll about restaurant breakups:

I've broken up with my boyfriend before at Chima, a Brazilian BBQ Buffet. It was really awkward because as I was telling the boy about why we weren't compatible as a couple, the servers kept coming up to us with skewers of meat, breaking my momentum with each interruption.

By the end of the meal, I had offered to pay since I was doing the breaking up, but the guy (with tears in his eyes) said the least he could do was pay for the meal. I think it was really embarrassing for him because we could hear the waiters whispering about us and at this point it was pretty obvious that he was crying.

As we walked outside and waited for a cab, he addressed some of my concerns and agreed to try to work it out instead of abruptly ending our relationship. 3 years later, we're still together but haven't been back to Chima - Julia

From Lunchtime poll – does authenticity matter to you?

It's nice to know what the "authentic" food does or should taste like. The great thing about cooking is that everyone makes what they make based on availability, freshness, and locale. My grandmothers both made great chocolate chip cookies but they tasted different. One was from the South and one was from the North.

Also, we are too used to eating everything anytime we want. There are true peak seasons and you shouldn't expect to eat a good oyster in January. One cook may use a lime while another uses an orange or lemon. One may use Basil and another Thai Basil. This may happen in the same country for God's sake.

I'm also tired of someone trying to "Patrick" someone else. Patrick is a friend of mine from college who always had a better experience that everyone else. He would say things like "this is good, but it's not as good as the salsa I had in Spain." Also, if you're in Spain, doesn't everything taste a little better anyway? - wasabiguy

Whew! Snomageddon averted here in Brooklyn. Yup, plenty of it dumped down overnight, but in a mad burst of sn-overkill for the inadequate response to the Christmas storm that blocked off outer-borough roadways for days, Mayor Mike Bloomberg made sure that plows drove past each resident's home approximately 153 times while they were trying to get some shuteye. (Not that we're complaining. Or that we counted.)

But as for the rest of the country (we know you're out there - we can see your frost breath), things seemed a tad more dire, as evidenced by the blizzard of iReports documenting picked-over supermarkets and snowed-over shopping carts. Plow through the gallery above and shovel down these chilling tales of desperation dining and dealing from our commenters on yesterday's Snowmageddon Supper.
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When Eatocracy launched in mid-June of this year, we knew we had a lot to say about how, why, where when and what people across the United States are eating. What took us by surprise and delight was the passionate response from readers who had a thing or ten (or 76,000+ if we're keeping track of comments stats) to say about hot button topics like vegetarianism, genetically modified food, open bars, school lunches and restaurant etiquette.

Here's a sampler platter of topics that stirred the pot this year. Consider it your amuse bouche for all the food fun we'll serve up in 2011.

June 21: Waiters even the score
After giving cranky patrons a chance to sound off on their restaurant gripes, it seemed only right to turn the tables and allow servers, bartenders and hosts a chance to dish it right on back. One heck of a food fight ensued. And when it came to the notion of stiffing a server on the tip for poor service? Whooo, boy...

July 12: A day two pigs would die
Is "ethical slaughter" a real world solution or an ugly oxymoron? When our editor shared her firsthand account of a pig slaughter and the subsequent meal, some readers applauded her moral gut-check, while others called for her head.
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From our post Hungry at the holidays:

As a middle school teacher I see this all the time. There are so many more students who need this aide than who are allowed to apply for it. Many parents are too ashamed or proud to apply for this because they work so hard to try and provide for their children. I and many of my colleagues regularly give away our lunches to kids who need it. Trust me, I know that I can afford to skip a meal here and there. We keep a desk drawer stocked with simple foods like raisins, cereal bars, crackers, juiceboxes, etc. that we pay for ourselves.

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Sometimes? Our commenters remind of something really freaking awesome that we forgot about.

Like today, when commenter "I Heart FLAMENONS!!" popped up on the 5@5 about Vegas dining, our editors nearly fell out of their chairs with glee.

For you new kids on the Eatocracy block, let's hop in the DeLorean and gun it back to September 27. On our "Last orders - death row menu requests," we asked: What would you want on your last dinner plate?

Commenter SteakAllTheWay responded:

"Man, if i could have my way my last meal would be two flamenons with garlic mashed potatoes..."

Thus, an Interwebs sensation was born. Let's just say, we shall never order plain ol' filet mignon ever again.