My professional life takes me in and out of Maine with unfortunate frequency. The best direction is always that which points home. When returning, I take time to appreciate the vantage on Maine that travel offers. From the various vectors leading into Portland Jetport, it’s clear that Maine is an aqueous state: the broad expanses of Sebago and Moosehead lakes, the countless ponds, streams, and rivulets that shape the topography through which our mighty rivers course.
When returning home by car, after surviving I-95 in Massachusetts and passing through the DMZ of New Hampshire, it always feels like an accomplishment to exhale 100 feet above the Piscataqua. When I see the sign that reads “Welcome to Maine,” I am again convinced of the way life should be.
For so many of us, it is the waters of Maine that define this place. And to my mind, it is certainly our waters that define “the foods that Maine us.” (The theme of this issue boldly claims “to Maine” as a verb, a definition of which I can see all around me.)
Though we have centuries of settler food traditions and eons more of Native traditions rooted to this land, two relatively modern additions are the exponential growth of Maine’s craft brewing and oyster farming communities. Oysters and beer, and by virtue their producers, are entirely dependent upon the quality of water in and from which they are crafted. These are two foods that are as “Mained” by their place as are any.
Oyster farming, in particular, is an effort worth supporting in that it’s not just sustainable, but restorative in its impact on ecosystems and economies. A recent study by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute shows the exciting growth potential for existing and new farmers to continue the industry-leading work that Maine has pioneered, using our waters to create solutions to many of the environmental issues of our day. Maine’s vast and protected coastline is a perfect place for water farming, the marine equivalent of California’s fertile lands or the deep rich soils of the plains. And when it comes to quality, Maine is to oysters what Napa Valley is to wine, a Grand Cru provenance most capable of producing perfection.
The same is true of beer. When the water from our tap is tasty, what then flows through the beer tap is likely to be great. Oysters and a ripe, tropical-scented Maine-brewed IPA or pilsner are a perfect pairing. Of course they’re a match on the palate, yet they also form a union of industries that stand sentinel as stewards of our water’s economies and take a vested interest in a sustained, resilient, and healthy environment. The stronger these economies grow in our beloved state, the more the interests of everyone in this state are protected.
So in these perfect summer days, I raise a toast with both hands, an oyster in one, a beer in the other: two foods that Maine us and that maintain the watery way life should be.
