On Top Chef, food innovations and the ascendance of vegetables.
FULL POST

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.

A mentor by definition is a trusted counselor. What's not inherently included in that definition is the form a mentor comes in.

As it were, a mentor can exist in many forms - from father to carpenter to chef.

Chef Jonathan Benno has worked in the kitchens of culinary notables like Thomas Keller and Tom Colicchio, and he willingly acknowledges the lessons he learned from them have been integral in his own success - from James Beard Awards to a "Best New Chef" title.

Benno is now an executive chef in his own right at his first solo project, Lincoln Restaurant, in New York City.

The student has now become the master.

Five Lessons Learned Through Cooking That I Now Pass Along: Jonathan Benno
FULL POST

UPDATE – The House has passed Food Safety Bill (S.510) 215 to 144 - with the provision of S.372, The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. The bill now goes to President Obama to sign.

Read House passes food safety bill to send to Obama

Sanjay Gupta spoke with chef Tom Colicchio and RedState.com editor-in-chief Erick Erickson about the growing controversy over governmental oversight of food safety, spurred on by the recent unanimous Senate vote in favor of the Food Safety Modernization Act.

Get more on S.510 - the Food Safety Modernization Act:

- Food safety bill, thought dead, passes unanimously

- Republicans block food safety bill

- Digest this: the new food safety act (and some very weird rumors)

- Senate approves long-delayed food safety bill

- Advocates: Food safety bill doesn't have teeth

- Food safety bill 'not perfect' but historic

- Op-ed: Jane Velez-Mitchell – Food safety doesn't end with S.510

- Poll: How much control should the federal government be allowed to exercise over food safety?

- S. 510: Food Safety Modernization Act – the basics

CNN’s “In Focus” series explores ways people are giving of their time, their resources and their love. Watch the CNN photojournalist special “Giving in Focus” Christmas Day at 4 p.m. ET.

Heaping platters of turkey, bowls of gravy-slathered mashed potatoes, endless pies and more than plenty for leftovers; for millions of children across the United States, a meal like this is as far-fetched a Christmas fantasy as Santa actually dropping down their chimney.

Winter break is anything but a wonderland for children in many of the nation's estimated 44 million food insecure families, who rely on school lunch for sustenance.

Nearly 16 percent of US households with children were food insecure during 2009, according to the most recently published United States Department of Agriculture figures, meaning that they did not have consistent access to adequate food for active, healthy lives for all household members. CNN Money reports that 14 percent of the nation's population - or 1 out of 7 people - is now living on food stamps.
FULL POST

Editor's note: all week, CNN Newsroom, Rick's List and Eatocracy are teaming up to take a look the effects our dining choices have on our minds, bodies and wallets. Tune into CNN Newsroom daily from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET for on-air coverage and join in the discussion here on Eatocracy. ALL COVERAGE

Chef Colicchio spoke extensively with Eatocracy on the topic of school lunch reform. Read the FULL INTERVIEW and catch up on our school lunch coverage.

Tom Colicchio is a man on a mission - several of them in fact. In addition to testifying before the House on behalf of school lunch reform, the chef, restaurateur and Top Chef judge recently traveled to Louisiana to see the effects of the BP oil spill on the fishing industry, firsthand.

In the video below, Colicchio strongly advocates the sale and consumption of Gulf Coast seafood. Eatocracy sat down with him after that interview to get more on how home consumers across the country can stand up for embattled fisherman and how he's using Twitter as a way to spread his message.

FULL POST

To many, it seems pretty cut and dried. Some kids' families can't afford to feed them enough at home - they should get a decent lunch at school. For free, ideally.

However others don't see it that way, as evidenced by the response to our Q & A with celebrity chef Tom Colicchio on the topic of childhood hunger and healthcare reform. Some heated debate ensued and in the interest of spurring open, honest dialogue about a weighty matter, here are some of the arguments that were presented.

On the child-free subsidizing school lunches via taxes

KitKat
You want kids? Then make darn sure that you can pay for their expenses. The childfree already are penalized by paying more income tax, so why should we have to dish out more in property taxes too? Shouldn't we get a credit for NOT contributing as much to the problem of depleting our natural resources because we chose NOT to have children?

I understand paying SOMETHING to help pay back our education in the public schools when we were children, but when does it END? Folks with kids need to take responsibility for the OWN and not depend on the village so much. It takes PARENTS to raise a kid, people!

FULL POST

Top Chef's Tom Colicchio is on a mission to make healthy school lunches accessible to every kid. How do things stack up in your neck of the woods?

As always, sound off in the comments. We just might share especially insightful ones in a future feature.

Tom Colicchio is a busy man. In addition to his recent fact-finding Gulf Seafood mission, the chef, restaurateur and Top Chef head judge testified before the House of Representatives, advocating for H.R.5504, the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act.

He spoke with Eatocracy about his family's fight against childhood hunger, the curse of cheap calories and the sheer terror of appearing before our nation's elected officials.

(Stay tuned for part two of the interview tomorrow on the topic of Gulf Coast seafood and the power of social media to carry a message.)

Eatocracy: What is your personal connection with school lunch reform?

Tom Colicchio: My mother managed a school cafeteria. A couple of years back, my brothers and I were trying to get her to retire. Sitting down with her, we said "Mom, you're always complaining that you're tired. You're fine. You don't have to work anymore."

She said, "I work because I know the kids coming into my lunchroom and the kids coming for breakfast - this is probably the only thing they're going to eat all day."
FULL POST

Tom Colicchio wears plenty of hats - chef, restaurateur, Top Chef judge, father of two, son of a lunch lady and now, advocate for H.R.5504, the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act.

See his testimony before the House of Representatives in the video above and read Eatocracy's exclusive interview with Colicchio on the topic of childhood hunger, and stay tuned for more of his thoughts on the Gulf Coast oil spill and how he's using Twitter to manage his message.

Previously: Top Chef Tom Colicchio believes in Gulf Coast seafood and stops by Eatocracy HQ to share a #fishsongs contribution