BELFAST

Slow Money event to feature speakers on food topics

Slow Money Maine will hold its annual gathering from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Hutchinson Center, 80 Belmont Ave.

The morning session will include speakers from different sectors of Maine’s food system, including: Penny Jordan of Jordan Farm in Cape Elizabeth; Kirstin Walter and Annie Doran of Good Food for Lewiston; Christy Hemenway of Gold Star Honeybees in Bath; David Gulak of Barrels Community Market in Waterville; Ken Morse of the Farm to Institutions Program; Sarah Smith of The Pickup; and Kurt Shisler and Nancy Perry of the Good Shepherd Food-Bank in Auburn.

The afternoon session will allow time for conversations on food system topics, including follow-ups from the morning session.

Space is limited, so registration is recommended. To register, go to bit.ly/pGn1Px.

The conference costs $10, which includes lunch from Local Sprouts. Payment can be made through PayPal or by check to Slow Money Maine, c/o Bonnie Rukin, 48 Evergreen Lane, Camden, ME 04843.

BLUE HILL

Island author to hold launch party for dessert cookbook

Kate Shaffer of Black Dinah Chocolatiers on Isle au Haut will launch her new book, “Desserted:

Recipes and Tales from an Island Chocolatier,” on Oct. 15.

A book launch party will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. at Fairwinds Florist, 5 Main St. Autographed copies of the book will be available, and refreshments will be served.

For more information, call 374-5621.

BRUNSWICK

Frontier Cafe to become full-service restaurant

Frontier Cafe is expanding its kitchen and will now be a full-service restaurant. A grand opening will be held in mid-November.

The style of the food will remain the same, but the restaurant will be serving “heartier and more diverse meals” that go beyond lunch and light dinner, according to a news release.

Counter service will be replaced by table service, and the counter will be turned into a bar. Crossroads, the existing lounge area, will remain.

The Frontier Cafe, Cinema & Gallery is in the Fort Andross Mill, 14 Maine St.

LINCOLNVILLE

Winery to host interactive ‘scent dinner’ on Oct. 21

Chandler Burr, the former New York Times perfume critic who is now director of the Center of Olfactory Art at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, will be holding another one of his popular “scent dinners” in Maine on Oct. 21.

Burr will work with Geoffroy Deconinck, the executive chef of Natalie’s at the Camden Harbour Inn, to create pairings of scent and food in a five-course dinner. The event includes a detailed lesson in which Burr passes around various scents and perfumes and discusses how perfumes are made. It’s followed by a meal that reflects the scents highlighted by Burr.

This is the fifth scent dinner that has been a collaboration between Burr and the chef of Natalie’s. This year, instead of being held at the restaurant in Camden, the dinner will be held at Cellardoor Winery, 360 Youngtown Road, Lincolnville. Dinner guests will be able to watch the interaction between Burr and Deconinck, and view the food being prepared in an open kitchen.

The theme of this year’s dinner, which coincides with the annual PopTech conference in Camden, is “entering a new global era.” The dinner costs $250 per person and will begin with a reception at 7:30 p.m. A shuttle will be available from the Camden Opera House to the winery.

For more information and for reservations, call the Camden Harbour Inn at 236-7008.

NEW GLOUCESTER

Apple-picking event to aid Good Shepherd Food-Bank 

Pick apples for the Good Shepherd Food-Bank at Thompson’s Orchard on Oct. 22.

The orchard will be waiving the picking fee for 18 people who are willing to pick apples for the food bank from 8 to 10 a.m. Anyone picking apples for charity is welcome to stay after 10 a.m. and pick for their own personal use at the rate of 98 cents per pound. Doughnuts and apple cider will be for sale.

Good Shepherd Food-Bank, the largest hunger relief organization in Maine, distributes food to more than 600 partner agencies in the state. For more information, go to gsfb.org

Anyone interested in picking fruit for the food bank should call 542-3723.

Baker plans lesson Saturday on making pumpkin pies

Get ready for the holidays by learning to make pumpkin pie from Debbie Thurlow of Debbie’s Pies.

Thurlow will be holding a pumpkin pie-making class Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the market/welcome center at Pineland Farms, 15 Farm View Drive.

The class costs $45 per person and includes the class, lunch, a fresh pie to take home and Thurlow’s pie recipe.

Register by calling 688-4800, ext. 15, or emailing education@PinelandFarms.org

KENNEBUNK

Inn that may house ghost to hold dinner with psychic

The Kennebunk Inn will host “A Spirited Evening Harvest Dinner” with psychic Vicki Monroe on Halloween weekend.

The inn is said to be haunted by Silas Perkins, a clerk at the inn who died in the mid-20th century but continues to make wine glasses fly.

The dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 29, and includes a meet-and-greet with Monroe and a chance to receive a personal reading from her.

The three-course dinner costs $45 per person, not including tax, tip or beverages. Reservations are required.

PORTLAND

Local brewers gathering to benefit Preble Street

It’s time to meet your maker.

The maker of your favorite local beer, that is.

Meet Your Maker, a gathering of local brewers, will be one of the featured events of Maine Beer Week, which will be held Nov. 10-17. Maine Beer Week, organized by the Maine Brewers’ Guild and gBritt PR, will be taking the place of the annual fall Restaurant Week.

The Meet Your Maker event, which will be held at The Great Lost Bear, 540 Forest Ave., will be the largest event and serve as a fundraiser for Preble Street, a Portland nonprofit. Other events will include tastings, tours and special beer dinners.

Restaurants will be encouraged to use local beer in their menus, either cooking with it or pairing it with the chef’s food.

Restaurants and taverns can register online at mainebeerweek.com, or by calling 775-2126. The Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/mainebeerweek.

ROCKLAND

Farnsworth Museum plans lectures linking art and food

The relationship between food production and culinary history, and paintings that depict food, will be explored in a new lecture series at the Farnsworth Art Museum that begins tonight.

“Cultures of Desire: An Examination of Art and Food” will be held at 5:30 tonight, Oct. 12 and Oct. 19 at The Strand Theater, 345 Main St.

Dr. Keith Collins and Roger Dell, Farnsworth director of education, will lead the lecture series, using images from medical texts, cookbooks, prehistoric cave walls and the Food Network to illustrate their points.

Tonight’s lecture, “The Dawn of Food,” will trace the history of food and cooking from the Stone Age through the collapse of the Roman Empire.

The second lecture, “Eat, Drink and Be Merry,” will focus on the physiological, psychological and sociological aspects of food and cooking. It will explore how food stimulates the brain’s reward centers, and include examinations of Dutch still-life paintings depicting cheese and butter, and other artistic renderings of food.

“A Votre Sante: Food and Health,” the third lecture, will feature a look at the connection between food and health, diets of long-lived cultures around the world, and the latest thinking on how to eat for both health and pleasure.

Individual lectures are $15 for members of the museum and $18 for nonmembers. Series tickets are $36 for members and $45 for nonmembers. For reservations or more information, call 596-0949 or visit farnsworthmuseum.org/education.