If none of that sounds appealing, how about a bite of Spam Pumpkin Spice?
Meredith Goad
Many people tell Meredith Goad that she has the best job in Maine, and most of the time she agrees.
Maine has a crazy appetite for food stories, and it’s Meredith’s job to satisfy those cravings with juicy tales from chefs, food producers, local farms, and the state’s fast-growing restaurant scene. Her work appears in Wednesday’s Food & Dining section and the Sunday Source section, and occasionally, but not as often as she’d like, on the front page.
A native of Memphis, Tenn., Meredith shamelessly flaunts her knowledge of good barbecue in front of her Yankee friends. She earned a bachelor of science degree in wildlife biology from Colorado State University, then studied science writing at the University of Missouri, where she received a master’s degree in journalism. She spent the first 20 years of her career covering science and environmental news, then switched to features in 2004, just as Portland’s food scene was taking off.
Her own most memorable meal? Back in the 1980s, on assignment in Finland, she shared a dinner of reindeer and Russian vodka with Maryland’s governor and a bunch of hungry scientists.
Meredith lives in Portland, but spends much of her time off back in Tennessee - either visiting family, or in online archives, researching her family’s history.
Mocktails now standard on menus as more people turn away from alcohol
More bars and restaurants in southern Maine are mixing up no- and low-alcohol drinks.
Kittery brewer eyeing nonalcoholic craft beer market
But the high cost of removing alcohol has kept the owner of Woodland Farms Brewery from moving forward for now.
Allagash beers get uber-local with new on-site orchard
Its first cherry harvest is being used in a sour blonde ale.
Holy Donut founder moving to Hawaii to watch daughter catch a wave
But don’t worry, you’ll still be able to get your dark chocolate sea salt doughnut fix.
The Wrap: Primo celebrates 20 years with golden tickets
Melissa Kelly, chef/owner of Primo in Rockland, marks 2 decades with Willy Wonka-style chocolate bars – 5 of which hold a secret prize.
A summer harvest of Maine cookbooks
A crop of local (and a couple regional) cookbooks lets you explore ingredients in both new and traditional ways.
Gelato Fiasco switches to paper packaging to reduce plastic waste
The Maine-based gelato maker says the switch to paper should keep 3 million plastic containers out of the waste stream annually.
Learning to bake bread gives meaning to prisoners’ days
Inmates at Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston bake nutritious goods, while learning responsibility – and saving the prison money.
‘A heck of a year’ makes Maine blueberries late – but it’s a good crop
Some pick-your-own farms delay opening their fields to the public this year.