Chipotle festival in Loring Park
Cultivate Minneapolis, the free outdoor festival hosted by Chipotle Mexican Grill, returns to Loring Park in Minneapolis from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 22. The one-day festival will host celebrity chefs for cooking demos, live music performances, local food artisans, neighboring breweries and wineries and more. Chipotle created the Cultivate Festival concept in 2011 to encourage people to be more curious about where their food comes from. Chefs include Jim Christiansen of Heydey, Jamie Malone and Erik Anderson from the upcoming Brut, Gavin Kaysen from Spoon and Stable, Richard Blais from "Top Chef All Stars" and Andrew Zimmern of "Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern" and Canteen. To learn more, visit chipotlecultivate.com/cities/minneapolis.
Cookie Cart raising money for St. Paul bakery
Cookie Cart, the north Minneapolis nonprofit bakery that employs urban youths to help them learn job readiness and life skills, is coming to St. Paul — but be patient. The second bakery will be at 946 Payne Av., on the city's East Side, but needed renovations put an opening date at sometime in 2017. A capital campaign to raise the $3.2 million is underway. In January, Cookie Cart will begin serving St. Paul youths in a pilot program in partnership with Johnson High School, participating in St. Paul area community cookie-selling events as a representative of the organization. Cookie Cart has run its successful and popular Minneapolis bakery and youth program for 27 years. For more information, visit cookiecart.org.
Smile for bees
It's all about honey, for the Hap "Bee" Hour fundraiser for the Smile Network on Aug. 18. For the modest admission fee of $10, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Crystal Kitchen Center, there will be cooking lessons with honey, beekeepers to chat with, microbeer tasting (made with honey), appetizers, wine and more. All proceeds go to Smile Network, which provides reconstructive surgery and related health care services to children and adults in developing countries. Tickets available at the door, online (smilenetwork.org) or by phone (612-377-1800). 3620 Winnetka Av., Mpls.
The power of produce
There's one more area farmers market to add to the list that will give a free $2 token weekly to each registered child (ages 4-12) to buy fresh produce at its market. That's the Delano Community Market (Riverside Commons building, 10 Bridge Av. W., Delano), which opens its Power of Produce program Aug. 29 at its Saturday market, from 9 a.m. to noon. The other farmers markets involved in the program are in Maple Grove, Minneapolis (Mill City) and Monticello. To read more about the program, check out startribune.com/taste.
Preservation hallmarks
Hard to resist a poll, especially one that claims that nine out of 10 baby boomers like pickles. (No word on other generations.) Jarden Home Brands, makers of the familiar Ball brand mason jar, shares this tidbit — and more! For instance, almost half of millennials surveyed say they're interested in canning this summer (we're guessing salsa or kimchi?). Dill pickles are favored two to one over any other kind of pickle, with bread & butter a distant second. Almost half of Americans expressed interest in some form of preserving food beyond canning, including dehydrating (26 percent), smoking (21 percent), brewing (15 percent) and cheese-making (13 percent.) And now you know.
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