Slow Food Portland and Rabelais Books present an evening with author, food and farming advocate, conservationist and folklorist Gary Paul Nabhan. Gary’s books include Coming Home to Eat, Renewing America’s Food TraditionsSaving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods, and the forthcoming Where Our Food Comes From -Retracing Nikolay Vavilov’s Quest to End Famine. The event will be held at Space Gallery, Friday, September 19th, at 7pm. $5 admission.Space Gallery is located at 538 Congress Street, Portland, ME. More information to come soon.

This month we are reading Robbing The Bees, A Biography of Honey by Holley Bishop.

In order to learn more about the culture and history of honey, Bishop apprenticed herself to Donald Smiley, a beekeeper in the Florida Panhandle. Robbing The Bees intersperses her experiences working with the winged insects with the science and lore of honey.

Michael Pollan says about the book, ” Holley Bishop’s love affair with honeybees combines natural and social history with gastronomy and memoir to produce a delicious reading experience.”

We will meet at Rabelais to discuss the world of bees on Tuesday October 7th from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.  The book is now available at Rabelais. The book is $14 and there is a 10% discount for Slow Food members.

Come one, come all!

Rabelais

86 Middle Street between India and Franklin

774 1044

This Sunday, 9/14 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm, Dr. Roberto Rubino, Slow Food Italy member and renowned cheese maker will be visiting Nezinscot Farm in Turner for a Slow Food Portland gathering.Come sip wine and nibble on some of Maine’s best artisanal cheeses with the authority on Italian traditional cheesemaking and grass farming If you’ve got questions about making cheese this is an amazing opportunity to speak with a master.Celebrating the English version of his book Cheesemaking: A D.I.Y. Manual and Guide to Making Wonderful Cheeses at Home (translated from the Italian Formaggio Fai Da Te) the day before at Pinelands, this is an opportunity to meet & greet the Slow Food way … on Gregg & Gloria Varney’s stunning farm with a glass of wine in hand.Slow Food Portland is thrilled that ItalTrade Partners (through Constance Wark) was able to convince Roberto to extend his stay so that we could invite our Slow Food community to sit & visit with him in this informal manner.The event is free and the Varneys are looking forward to our visit.Directions:From Auburn:Go North on Route 117 from Route 4 for 1 mile. Nezinscot is the first farm you come to and has a white barn with red trim on the right and a house and store on the left. It’s midway between Turner Center and Turner Village.From Augusta:take 133 into Wayne, 219 to N. Turner, 117 south for 7 or 8 miles. The farm will be on the top of the hill.