Letter from the Editor
The (Re)connecting Issue
I haven’t had a dinner party since Friday, March 6th.
In the face of a pandemic; ongoing protests over racial and social injustice; deepening political divides as Election Day looms; extreme weather events wreaking havoc across the country; and economic uncertainty the likes of which we haven’t endured in decades, my desire to be the “Hostess with the Mostest” seems almost too trivial to express.
But I do so to make a point. The dinner party is my failsafe connection maker. As I moved from one mailing address to the next and one job to the next, inviting people to gather in my dining room to enjoy local food and drink has always planted seeds for new relationships and sparked conversations to make them grow. I sorely miss making those connections.
This issue centers on Mainers (re)connecting over food despite the circumstances that physically and socially distance us. We feature a co-housing development in Belfast, a budding vegan baker who doesn’t focus on what’s missing from her goods, a chef from “away” who moved to Kennebec County to homestead, and thru-hikers taking communion along the Appalachian Trail. We highlight fall cocktails from Maine distillers, New Mainers growing and processing food, fishing families harvesting seafood recipes to share, and a chef talking about hospitality in inhospitable times.
We invite you to connect with all of them.
Cheers,
