September Brown Bag Lunches @ the Birmingham Public Library Celebrate Eat Drink Read Write Festival

In tandem with the Birmingham Public Library’s Eat Drink Read Write Festival (September 13-17, 2011), we are offering a month of Brown Bag Lunches which will both tickle your taste buds and inspire the “foodie” in you. Join in for some fantastic programming.

September 7 * The Cheeseman Cometh
Over the past decade, the number of small, independent cheese producers in the United States has skyrocketed. Chip Brantley, a former cheesemaker and now lecturer in journalism at the University of Alabama, will give a brief history of the American cheese business and talk about the ins and outs of making cheese. Chip has written for many publications, including Gourmet, Southern Living and the Oxford American, and he is the author of The Perfect Fruit: Good Breeding, Bad Seeds and the Hunt for the Elusive Pluot.

September 14 * PieLab
PieLab is a combination cafe, design studio and civic meeting place in the small rural town of Greensboro in Alabama’s impoverished Black Belt. PieLab is based on the notion that the best way to bring people together and do good for the community is to feed them pie and strike up a conversation; this is summed up in PieLab’s formula as: "Pie + Conversation = Ideas / Ideas + Design = Positive Change." We’ll have pies for sampling.

September 21 * Dreamcakes
Meet Jan Moon, the owner and CEO of Dreamcakes, a Homewood bakery that's famous for its treats, especially the delectable cupcakes. After getting her degree from the University of Alabama, Jan worked in the test kitchens of Southern Living and Cooking Light before striking out on her own with Dreamcakes. Her book, Big Book of Cupcakes, was published this spring. Copies will be available for purchase.

September 28 * Growing Fall Vegetables the Organic Way
The arrival of fall doesn't mean you have to stop enjoying fresh produce grown in your home garden. Rachel Reinhart from Jones Valley Urban Farm (JVUF) will show you how to grow fall vegetables organically well into the cool months. Utilizing over three acres of vacant downtown property, JVUF is a community-based non-profit organization that grows organic produce and flowers, educates the community about healthy food, and helps make Birmingham a vibrant community.