Looks like food producers have caught on to the cause-of-the-month scam. How else do you explain the fact that October is "national popcorn poppin' month," "celebrate sun-dried tomatoes month" and - perhaps a last-ditch effort at redemption - "spinach lover's month."

It's also "Discover Fair Trade Month," and at the Firehouse Gallery in Burlington that translates into "coffee culture."

Coffee-flavored movies will run on Tuesdays beginning October 10. The first feature is called The Irresistible Bean and deals with the drama that has surrounded coffee since it originated in Ethiopia. The next week, catch a duo of documentaries, each of which covers a different aspect of the Fair Trade movement. Finally, on October 24, watch Frida - a biopic about artist Frida Kahlo - which will be hosted by Grounds for Health, a Vermont nonprofit that helps bring health care to Mexico and other coffee-producing countries. A tasting and discussion follows each film.

Other proceedings include lectures and an art show of jury-selected works from coffee-growing countries that runs from October 13 to November 5. Perhaps someone should ask Mobile Barista Eric Olsen to consider an "installation?" Java junkies should check the Seven Days calendar each week for event times and locations.

To learn more about the compelling concoction on your own, pick up The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee by Stewart Lee Allen or The Joy of Coffee by Corby Kummer.