1. Brooklyn Pigfest
How’s this for local? The beer’s from Brooklyn Brewery, the ’cue’s from several metro-area competition pitmasters, and the proceeds benefit Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy (May 12 at the Tobacco Warehouse, Water St. at Dock St., Empire Fulton-Ferry State Park; $75 tickets available at brooklynbrewery.com).
2. Slow Food Nation: A Blueprint for Changing the Way We Eat
Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini discusses his new book and, we’d imagine, excoriates McDonald’s (May 15 at the American Museum of Natural History; $15 at amnh.org).
3. Dishing the Dirt: Soil, Terroir, and the New Taste of Earth-friendly Cooking
Dressing Room chef Michel Nischan does a seasonal show-and-tell about the sort of local, organic ingredients his patron, Connecticut restaurateur Paul Newman, insists on (May 15 at NYU’s Torch Club; $100; register at 212-998-7171).