What's Cooking: Bread contests, Wasserman, Wedge B-day, Slow Food

Bread bakers, start your ovens

Mill City Farmers Market's annual Bread Festival is Sept. 13 with its popular contest for home bakers. Prizes will be awarded in two categories, quick breads and yeasted breads. Bring your loaf to the market with a copy of your recipe between 8 and 9 a.m. Even better, preregister by visiting millcityfarmers market.org/digging-deeper/bread-contest, and check out the contest details. Prizes will include merchandise with a retail value of about $100 from sponsoring Gold Medal Flour and the market, and top winners will have their recipes published in Mill City Farmers Market's online recipe archive and on the Gold Medal Flour website. In addition, watch a 10 a.m. demo by Zoë François and Jeff Hertzberg of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes" fame.

Wasserman to speak

With Rosh Hashanah this month, cookbook author and chef Tina Wasserman will discuss her popular book about Jewish cuisine, "Entrée to Judaism: A Culinary Exploration of the Jewish Diaspora" (Urj Press, $34.95) from 7-9 p.m. Sept. 10 at Sabes Jewish Community Center, 4300 Cedar Lake Road, St. Louis Park. The book is described as being as much historical text as cookbook, looking at culinary traditions for the past 600 years and how they have influenced foods today. Wasserman will discuss Sukkot and Rosh Hashanah, with five recipes to sample. Cost is $18. The event is sponsored by Aish MN, http://aishmn.org.

Tiny concept, big ideas

The Tiny Diner and Farm, Kim Bartmann's Minneapolis innovative effort that showcases small-scale, local food and energy production through its own tiny farm, now is offering a round of classes so others can learn about topics such as bio-intensive urban farming methods and efficient water-use strategies. This month's classes include one about growing hops on Saturday or growing mushrooms on Sept. 9. Classes are free or on an ability-to-pay basis. A complete schedule is at http://tinydinerfarm.wordpress.com; RSVP by sending an e-mail to the tinydinerfarm@gmail.com, with the class title in the subject heading. Or check out what's on the restaurant's menu at www.tinydiner.com.

Happy birthday to the Wedge

The Wedge Community Co-op celebrates 40 years with a free block party from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, at 22nd Street between Lyndale and Garfield Avenues S. The event will feature food, live music and a Meet the Farmers tent, beer garden, food trucks and more hospitality than anyone imagined in 1974. That's when some neighbors opened a co-op in a basement apartment on Franklin Avenue to sell unrefined bulk foods, fresh produce and limited dairy products, frozen vegetables and fish. For more information and a complete historical timeline, visit www.wedge.coop.

Brews and Canoes

Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness will announce the winners of its Brews and Canoes competition at a ticketed tasting event from 7-10 p.m. Sept. 10 at Aria, 105 N. 1st St. in Minneapolis. Nine Minnesota breweries are participating in the craft beer competition, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. There'll be samples, food from Chowgirls Killer Catering and music by the Roe Family Singers and the Boomchucks. Tickets are available through EventBrite, bit.ly/1CasGtg. Admission is $30 in advance, $40 at the door, and includes beer samples, food and a signature Brews and Canoes tasting glass. Admission is $15 for designated drivers and anyone under 21, and includes food and nonalcoholic beverages.

Slow Food benefit on the farm

Minnesota Food Association (MFA) and Slow Food Minnesota again have joined for their annual Big River Slow Food Harvest Farm Dinner, at 2 p.m. Sept. 21 at Big River Farms, 14220 Ostlund Trail N., Marine on St. Croix. The event is a benefit for the MFA's organic farming program for new immigrant and refugee farmers and for the local food education events and activities of Slow Food Minnesota (Twin Cities). Chefs Steven Brown, Joe Hatch-Surisook, Thomas Boehmer and Marshall Paulsen are cooking, and there'll be farm tours, live music, a silent auction with some fascinating items (pizza-making at Sun Street Bread), and small-group conversations led by Renata Christen of Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. Tickets are $95 for members of Slow Food or MFA; $125 for nonmembers and guests of members, $45 for ages 15 and under. Details at slowfoodmn.org/events.html.

STAFF REPORTS