fresh sheet

Food For Thought

A new book club will be examining food systems, starting tonight with a discussion of Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.”

Book club meetings take place at Coeur d’Alene Public Library and are held in partnership with Inland Northwest Food Network.

The first meeting runs from 6 to 7:30 tonight in the Community Room at the library, 702 E. Front Ave.

Participation is free and open to anyone interested in what they eat. Discussions of a different book will continue at the library the first Wednesday of each month.

For more information, email info@inwfoodnetwork.org, call (208) 769-2315 or visit cdalibrary.org or cdacity.blogspot.com.

Some like it hot

The deadline to enter the 2014 Fiery Foods Festival is Sept. 10.

Local and regional restaurants are invited to compete in the fest’s Restaurant Food Show Competition, which takes place from 1 to 3 p.m. Sept. 13. Members of the crowd get to vote on their favorite fiery foodstuffs.

Salsa-makers are invited to enter a separate competition, which takes place the same day from 3 to 5 p.m. Entries will be judged by a panel of judges as well as fiery food fans.

The festival takes place in downtown Pasco at West Lewis Street and South Fourth Avenue.

For official rules and prizes, visit fieryfoodsfestival. com/ and select food contests.

We all scream for ice cream

In honor of National Ice Cream Month in July, the Food section asked readers to share their favorite ice cream memories.

The guidelines were simple: 250 words or fewer and no poetry.

The top entry won a (gently used) copy of “Scoop Adventures: The Best Ice Cream of the 50 States” by Lindsay Clendaniel, reviewed in the July 30 issue.

Entries were judged by a panel of nine reporters and editors at the Spokesman-Review. Today we have the results.

Look inside today’s section on Page C3 for the winning essay as well as entries from two runners-up.