Thank you, Santa, for the tantrums?

Seriously, what's the deal with the freaking out over EVERY LITTLE THING? We probably suffer through a tantrum two or three times a day, and things are getting out of hand. Yesterday Owen refused to eat breakfast because we took my cell phone away from him. This morning he threw himself on the floor because he didn't want to wear a coat (it was 38 degrees outside). He refuses to be set down anywhere and wants to be held ALL the time. He refused to eat today unless he was out of his booster seat and sitting in my lap. In the booster seat he just screamed bloody murder until I took him out. Our lives with him right now are so Jekyll and Hyde. He's super loving and sweet with us, happy to play, one minute, and the next minute he's screaming, totally mad that something, anything didn't go his way. He's usually happy. But the little things tick him off (like not being able to hold the comb I'm in the middle of using while fixing my hair in the morning). Everything I've read about tantrums tells me I should just ignore them, and he'll stop. That if I give in, I'm telling him tantrums work. Unfortunately, tanturms DO WORK! I don't want him cracking his skull on the tile floor. I do want him to eat and not go hungry. But I'm getting very worried that I'm creating a spoiled little boy who will, for the rest of his life, throw a fit if things don't go his way. Where do you draw the line? When should I just let him have his freak out and try to move on? He's the guinea pig in this family... we've never done this before. I want him to learn to deal with the things life throws at him (like having to stand by himself in the kitchen or not getting to eat the foil topper that I took off my yogurt). But it hurts me to see him so upset. And the consequences are often long-lasting when he has a tantrum (like yesterday when his breakfast was late, so he didn't eat his snack, or all of his lunch then had a late afternoon snack which made him not want to eat his dinner). Can someone please give me all the answers? I sure hope this stage passes quickly, because I'm not really happy with this Christmas gift!UPDATE: So we decided tonight to let him have his tantrum and not give in. It did not go so well. He hit his head twice while freaking out and refused to eat anything other than one piece of sliced mushroom from his dinner. So we basically sent our baby to bed hungry. He must have cried for an hour at the table. We tried everything from ignoring, to singing, to peek-a-boo. Nothing worked. He'd be happy for a minute, then scream a moment later. Although we did have a successful trip to Target this afternoon. Usually I have to carry him around the whole store, because he refuses to sit in the cart. But today I didn't give him the option. I had a snack and a sippy cup for him. When we were checking out he cried for me to pick him up. But I didn't give in until we got to the car. Ugh... this is hard.