The incredible bulk

We thought it would never come: This is National Bulk Foods Week, which means incentives and discounts are yours for the scooping. The Bulk Is Green Council says that buying natural and organic foods in bulk offers an average savings of 30 to 50 percent over packaged food, and also helps the environment with less packaging and streamlined delivery costs. Buying in bulk also enables shoppers to buy only the amount of food they need. When you need only a pinch of some spice or enough peanuts for gifts of holiday brittle, bulk bins are there to serve.

Food for thought, words for eating

The Twin Cities chapter of Slow Food Minnesota is sponsoring a terrific lineup for its annual Writers' Night from 4-7 p.m. Oct. 23, starting with Catherine Friend, whose memoirs, "Hit by a Farm" and "Sheepish," are laugh-out-loud funny while providing insights into how food happens. Joining her will be Brett Laidlaw, who writes about finding and cooking wild foods in Minnesota in his blog and new book of the same name "Trout Caviar" (troutcaviar.blogspot.com) and Heavy Table editor James Norton, co-author of "Minnesota Lunch," a history of immigrant and ethnic cooking in Minnesota with a focus on the sandwich. The event is at the McNally Smith College of Music, 19 E. Exchange St., St. Paul. Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for nonmembers at www.slowfoodmn.org; click on "Events."

Truly breadwinners

Congratulations to the winners of the first Mill City Farmers Market Bread Festival held this month. Abby Boone of Minneapolis took first place in the quick bread category with her Earl Grey Fig Bread, while John Jacobson of Minneapolis topped yeast bread entrants with his Pain aux Nois et Raisins. Recipes for all six winners in both categories are at www.millcityfarmersmarket.org; click on "Resources." The market, between the Guthrie Theater and Spoonriver restaurant in Minneapolis, winds up its season this Saturday.

Three cheers

Congrats to Kim Ode, who won second place in the awards competition of the Association of Food Journalists! Her monthly series of how-to articles, called Baking Central, that ran last year, covered delights from the oven, from cream puffs and madeleines to focaccia and cheesecake. Her year-long project continues into a second year. You can read the stories, find the recipes and watch many of her how-to videos at startribune.com/baking.