ORONO

Slow Food conference taking place Oct. 26-27

Roger Doiron, the Maine-based founder of Kitchen Gardeners International, will give the keynote address at the upcoming Slow Food conference. The ninth annual ESTIA Conference on “Slow Food: A Model for Sustainable and Healthy Living” takes place Oct. 26-27 at UMaine’s Wells Conference Center.

The conference will explore the health benefits and value of local, sustainably produced food. It will also address food policy and present success stories from Maine institutions and businesses.

Doiron, who spearheaded the campaign to start a kitchen garden at the White House and subsequently won Hearst Media’s Heart of Green award, delivers his address at 7:15 p.m. Oct. 26. His talk is titled “Sow It Forward: How Gardens Are Slowing Us Down and Cultivating Change From the Ground Up.”

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, will deliver a talk titled “Food Policy – Incorporating the Slow Food Model Into the Maine Economy” at 11:45 a.m. Oct. 27. Pingree is married to S. Donald Sussman, majority share owner of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.

Other speakers include Walt Whitcomb, commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry; Mark Lapping, distinguished professor of public policy and management at Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine; and Russell Libby, executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.

All three will take part in a panel discussion titled “Food Policy – Incorporating the Slow Food Model into the Maine Economy” at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 27.

Carolo Petrini, the founder of the International Slow Food movement, is scheduled to attend the conference.

Tickets to the event cost $40 in advance and $50 at the door. Students pay $25 in advance and $30 at the door. For more information or to register, visit estiamaine.org. The registration deadline is Oct. 15.

BAR HARBOR

Economics professor to talk about starting a small farm

College of the Atlantic professor Davis Taylor will give at free talk about the economic realities of starting a small farm in Maine.

Titled “Dirt Under the Nails: Experiencing the Old and New Economics of Small-Scale Farming in Maine,” the talk takes place at 4:10 p.m. Tuesday in McCormick Lecture Hall.

Taylor, who is an economics professor and owns Daybreak Farm in Washington, will discuss startup costs, first-year production and marketing and pricing decisions. He’ll also talk about the importance of business clusters, networks and cooperation.

For more information about the talk, call Taylor at 288-5015.

ELLSWORTH

Annual pork dinner Oct. 21 will showcase beer, wine

Beer and wine will be facing off at Cleonice’s annual pork dinner, which will be held this year at The Maine Grind, 192 Main St.

Both beer and wine will be paired with pork at the five-course dinner, which will start at 6 p.m. Oct. 21.

Guests will vote on each course, deciding which pairing works best with the dish. Courses will include foods such as handmade charcuterie, Sardinian roast pork and even some chocolate-covered bacon.

For reservations, call 664-7554.

KENNEBUNK

Inn hosting harvest dinner with paranormal program

Celebrate the spooky season with a visit to a haunted inn. The 200-year-old Kennebunk Inn will be hosting a harvest dinner on Oct. 27 and 31, featuring a paranormal program by psychic Vicki Monroe.

The inn is said to be haunted by ghosts. Cyrus, a clerk at the inn during the mid-20th century, supposedly makes wine glasses fall or fly across the room. The ghost of Silas Perkins, a night watchman and poet, has also made himself known to guests. And a spirit identified as Sara Emily inhabits the inn’s main stairwell, waves to guests as they arrive and knocks on their doors.

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a three-course dinner that costs $68 per person. Advance payment for dinner and 20 percent gratuity are required. The dinner price does not include tax and beverages.

A few dinner guests will receive a personal reading from Monroe during the program, and there will be a “meet and greet” with her after dinner in the inn’s lounge. For those who want to stay overnight, room rates for some suites will be discounted 25 percent.

Reservations are required and must be booked by calling 985-3351.

PORTLAND

New Cooking Channel show features episode taped here

A new show on the Cooking Channel visited Portland in its inaugural season.

“Chuck’s Eat the Street” airs on the Cooking Channel and stars celebrity chef Chuck Hughes, who owns Garde Manger and Le Bremner in Montreal. The first episode aired Tuesday night and the Portland episode is scheduled to air at 8:30 p.m. Oct. 30.

Titled “Where the Ocean Meets the Farm,” the Portland episode features visits to two restaurants, a bakery and a lobster pound.

At Standard Baking Co., Hughes “experiences the best sticky buns outside Paris.” At Vignola Cinque Terre he samples smoked lamb, at Farmer’s Tables he tries pollock stew and at Three Sons Lobster & Fish he eats a steamed lobster he caught himself.

The shows’ season premiere featured a visit to Philadelphia. Other episodes showcase his visits to New Orleans, Memphis and San Francisco.

Hughes has stared in “Chuck’s Day Off,” “Chuck’s Week Off: Mexico” and “The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs.”

 

Standard Baking will hold annual open house Oct. 20

Standard Baking Co., 75 Commercial St., will hold its second annual open house from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 20.

Free bakery tours will be offered every 15 minutes, and there will be ongoing baking demonstrations and tastings. No registration is necessary.

Parking is limited at the bakery, so participants are asked to park on the street in consideration of other customers.

Standard Baking is one of 55 bakeries around the country participating in The Bread Bakers Guild of America’s 2nd Annual International Bakery Open House.

 

Allagash Brewery tour rated No. 2 in U.S. by TripAdvisor

Portland’s own Allagash Brewing Co. has one of the top 10 most popular brewery tours in the United States, according to the travel site TripAdvisor.

The Allagash tour was No. 2 on the list, just after top choice New Belgium Brewing, which is located in Fort Collins, Colo. And it beat out the Big Boys: Anheuser Busch in St. Louis clocked in at No. 3.

“Thirsty travelers can take a free, hour-long tour of this coastal brew house while enjoying a refreshing taste of their seasonal specialties or year-round brews,” TripAdvisor noted.

Allagash’s “coastal brew house” is actually located at 50 Industrial Way in Portland, hardly “coastal” for those who may be expecting an ocean view from that description. But it is a very popular tour.

Tours run five times a day, Monday through Saturday. All five tours this Saturday, Oct. 6, are already sold out, and the 11 a.m. tour on the Oct. 13 is sold out, as well. (Saturdays are the most popular days for tours.)

If you go to see what all the fuss is about, Allagash recommends that you arrive a few minutes early and wear closed-toe shoes. According to the brewery’s website, IDs are required for everyone who wants to sample, “even you Nana and Pop Pop.” No pets are allowed on the tours, but the tours are wheelchair and stroller accessible.

To reserve a spot on a tour, go to the Allagash website, www.allagash.com, to schedule a time on their calendar.

Rounding out the TripAdvisor list are:

4. Samuel Adams Brewery in Boston

5. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico, Calif.

6. Heinzelmannchen Brewery in Sylva, N.C.

7. New South Brewing in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

8. Boulevard Brewing Co. in Kansas City

9. D.G. Yuengling and Son Brewery in Pottsville, Pa.

10. Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. in Chippewa Falls, Wis.

 

Peaks underground dinners starting up again on Oct. 13

The Peaks Island Gastro Society is starting up again this fall with a Saturday dinner at the Peaks Island home of Jeff Kingman.

Kingman once worked as a chef in Portland, Maine, as well as Portland, Oregon, and is now director of sales and operations for a Florida-based social media company. He began hosting these underground dinners last year, cooking out of his gourmet kitchen and serving the dinners at a 12-seat farmer’s table.

The seven-course menu Saturday will begin with Maine oysters and include rabbit, duck, monkfish, a root vegetable salad, venison and dessert. Wine pairings will come from Downeast Beverage. For a complete description of the menu, go to http://slidesha.re/Su5Ouz

The dinner is $100 per person, paid in advance. For reservations and directions, email [email protected].

 

Maine events will celebrate national Food Day on Oct. 24

Food Day, a national day that celebrates healthy, affordable and sustainable food, will be Oct. 24 this year, and there are several events taking place here in Maine.

El Rayo Cantina and Taqueria, located at 101 York St., will host prix fixe farmer’s table menus from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 17. The dishes will also be available a la carte.

Dandelion Spring Farm, at 30 Brick Hill Road in Newcastle, will be hosting a “Sonnet Pop-Up Harvest Dinner” at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, featuring local lamb, organic vegetables and locally made sweets.

Damian Sansonetti, former executive chef at Bar Boulud in New York City until he moved to Maine this fall, will be doing the cooking, along with Ilma Lopez, the pastry chef at Grace in Portland. Lopez formerly worked at Daniel, another one of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants in New York City, as well as for many other chefs worldwide.

The dinner costs $59. For tickets or more information, email [email protected].

 

Kids Gone Raw to offer class on Halloween treats Oct. 20

Kids Gone Raw will host a class Oct. 20 that shows parents and children how to make five raw, vegan and gluten-free Halloween treats.

The class begins at 11 a.m. in the kitchen at 81 Congress St.

The class costs $25 per person, and is appropriate for ages 5 and up. Participants will receive recipe handouts and a treat bag to take home.

Space is limited, so preregistration is required. Go to kidsgoneraw.com to register.

YORK

Stonewall Kitchen holding Autumn Harvest Weekend

Stonewall Kitchen Autumn Harvest Weekend will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Stonewall Kitchen Headquarters, 2 Stonewall Lane.

There will be seasonal samples, face painting and giveaways. Selected fall flavors will be 20 percent off.

 

– Compiled by staff writers Meredith Goad and Avery Yale Kamila