Letter from the Editor

Although we don’t officially call our winter release the “holiday issue,” many of its pages do represent the togetherness and celebration that are of holiday likeness, and the reliable, decades-old expectation that food can be found at the center.

Bread in particular seems to instruct a connection between both people and food, whether it’s served as a crumbly conduit for getting things from the plate to your belly (like a slather of Christine Burns Rudalevige’s Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes) or something to occupy your mouth while you listen, rather than talk, an action that Rich West discusses in his essay about gastrodiplomacy.

Susan Olcott’s feature discusses Maine’s unique bread-making scene, a result of connections and a focus on local ingredients that we at Edible Maine love to see. These collaborations between farmers, millers, bakers, and the binding work of Maine Grain Alliance (MGA) allow bread-making in Maine to come full circle without ever leaving the state’s borders, from grain being grown on Maine farms, to that grain being milled into flour in Maine, and finally sold to local bakers. The transformation of the Somerset jail into the Somerset Grist Mill represents a particularly striking, if not eerie, transition from silo to symbiosis, just one example in this issue of people coming together.

As you’ll read in Get to Know Your Maine Nonprofit featuring MGA, what has gone beyond state borders is the education and insights that Maine has shared with other states to help them create their own regional grain economies, and that’s something to be celebrated.

This issue aims to honor connection during a time that Maine weather may discourage us from seeking the same. I hope that the stories and recipes in these pages give you something to look forward to and share with others while the sun and its warmth take their annual hiatus.

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Be Well,

No. 11 / Winter 2020