After a friend expressed interest in their bike shop at Five Corners, Bob and Jeannette Breth thought they might take a few years off. Those plans were foiled by the opportunity to make Mr. Breth’s childhood dream come true and open an ice cream shop. Bernie’s Homemade Ice Cream and Fudge was born.

What’s for dinner? That’s the question the four Pollan family women kept finding themselves asking one another. The Pollan Family Table, written by Corky Pollan and her daughters Lori, Tracy and Dana, was the answer.

When Rick Mast decided to start a chocolate company with his brother Michael, the two set a date to show up at work two months later, promptly at 8 a.m. The idea was to first take the summer off to do whatever they wanted.

It’s a rare opportunity to gather in one restaurant and enjoy specialty dishes sourced from the Island by seven distinct chefs. All of which are, by the event’s design, also cookbook authors. And for these cooks, the stories are as important as the recipes.

The Gay Head Gallery is hooking up with neighbor Orange Peel Bakery to offer art as a possible topping to go with the more traditional pepperoni and onions.

Take a group of local cookbook authors, add food, wine and conversation, and you’ve got Cook the Vineyard!, a panel discussion-meets-lunch event sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard Magazine. The second annual event will be held Monday, July 20, at Lola’s in Oak Bluffs, starting at noon. Tickets are $65 for a multi-course wine-paired lunch.