Meredith Goad

Portland Press Herald

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.

Source

After decades of blight, Mainers could help save the American chestnut tree

by Meredith Goad August 27, 2017August 25, 2017

American chestnuts were almost wiped out. Now, a UNE professor turns to science to make them stronger.

Source

Will a genetically modified tree harm the environment?

by Meredith Goad August 27, 2017August 24, 2017

Maybe, maybe not, but it will almost certainly cause some controversy.

Homegrown, Source

Handwoven Passamaquoddy baskets from the ’60s sold to fund conservation efforts in Maine

by Meredith Goad August 27, 2017August 25, 2017

These wooden baskets were long ago made obsolete by cheap plastic baskets and the disappearance of Maine canneries, but now they are collectors’ items.