Pop-up bakeries to raise money for Good Shepherd

Two pop-up bakeries featuring baked goods from some of Maine’s most popular businesses will raise money for the Good Shepherd Food Bank.

The first annual Baked Pop-Ups will be held Jan. 28 in Rockland and Feb. 4 in Portland. The Rockland event will be held at Rheal Day Spa, 453 Main St., and the Portland event will be at Akari, 193 Middle St.

Both pop-ups will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and benefit Good Shepherd, the largest hunger relief organization in Maine, while raising awareness about childhood hunger.

Some of the foods being donated for the pop-ups include cookies from Atlantic Baking Co., cupcakes from East End Cupcakes, brownies from Scratch Baking Co., chocolate caramels from Black Dinah Chocolatiers, Rice Krispie squares filled with cajeta from El Rayo Taqueria, and a variety of items from Sweets & Meats Market.

Pups won’t be left out. Loyal Biscuit and Planet Dog will bring the dog biscuits.

FREEPORT

Food historian will talk about history of chocolate

Food historian Sandy Oliver will talk about chocolate and its history in American cookery at the Freeport Historical Society on Feb. 5.

The event begins at 2 p.m. and costs $10, or $8 for historical society members. Wilburs of Maine will provide chocolate for tasting, and there will be samples of an early chocolate beverage and 19th-century cakes as well.

The historical society is located at 45 Main St. For more information, call 865-3170.

PORTLAND

Several events celebrate National Pie Day Monday

Grab a fork, pie lovers. National Pie Day is Monday, and there are several events going on in the Portland area to celebrate.

A group calling itself “the Portland Pie Council” will host the Third Annual Pie and Art Gala at the Mayo Street Center for the Arts, 10 Mayo St. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the cost is $3. Guests are also “strongly encouraged” to bring a pie.

There will be a ranked-choice vote for the best sweet and savory pies.

The gala will also include a “synchronized interpretive pie dance,” a pie-eating contest, a charity pie art auction, pietry (pie-esque poetry), historic pie moments and pie theater. To sign up for the pie-eating contest, email portlandpiecouncil@gmail.com.

Just in case you don’t get your fill of pie, the Portland Pie Council has gathered pie recipes to go into a recipe book that will be for sale at the event.

All proceeds from the Third Annual Pie and Art Gala will go to Preble Street Resource Center.

One of the gala organizers, Ned Swain of Devenish Wines, has pledged to raise an additional $500 this week for Preble Street. If he fails, he will spend a whole day in a pie suit. To find out how to donate, email devenishwines@gmail.com.

Devenish will also host a free National Pie Day tasting event at Aurora Provisions, 64 Pine St., Portland, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The tastings will include both sweet and savory pies paired with a half-dozen wines.

There will be another pie-and-wine tasting event from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Freeport Cheese and Wine, 178 Lower Main St., Freeport.

Whole Foods Market, at 2 Somerset in Portland, plans its own “Pie Smackdown” for Saturday. From noon to 2 p.m., customers will be able to sample pies throughout the store and vote for their favorites. Everyone who votes will be entered into a contest to win a pizza-pie party.

Whole Foods will host speaker on Jan. 25

Dr. Stephen Donnelly of the Maine Center for Integrative Medicine will be at Whole Foods from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 to talk about managing celiac disease and gluten insensitivity.

Donnelly trained at the University of Arizona under the direction of well-known integrative medicine expert Dr. Andrew Weil.

Registration is required. Call 774-7711.

– Compiled by Meredith Goad, Staff Writer

Correction: This compilation was revised at 1:22 p.m., Jan. 20, 2012, to state that the “Pie Smackdown” at Whole Foods Market will take place on Saturday.