Interview with Leigh Kellis

Mumbai to Maine has posted a podcast interview with Leigh Kellis, owner of The Holy Donut.

Back in 2011, Leigh started The Holy Donut, with nothing but a few simple ingredients in her pantry and a whole bunch of love and permission to indulge in her cravings. She was also going through a pretty tough time in her personal life. But soon donuts became more than a distraction. They became an obsession. She made batch after batch on her kitchen stove tinkering with recipes and finally landed on ‘The Holy Donut’!

Briana Warner, Food Hero

Eat Well magazine has recently hailed Atlantic Sea Farms CEO Briana Warner as one of their 2020 Food Heroes.

This year, the company expects its 24 farmers to harvest 550,000 pounds of kelp, up from 220,000 last year and just 30,000 in 2018. And in this case, bigger is better: the more kelp Warner sells, the more the ocean (and air) benefits and the more successful Maine lobstermen are. But Atlantic Sea Farms’ big coming-out party happened this past spring, when national salad chain Sweetgreen hired James Beard award-winning chef David Chang to create a sweet potato and kelp bowl for its menu.

If Warner’s name sounds familiar but you just can’t place it, it might be because she ran a bakery, Maine Pie Line, when she first moved to Maine.

Interview with Cherie Scott from Mumbai to Maine

For their latest podcast, Femidish interviewed Cherie Scott, the founder of Mumbai to Maine.

Listen for the distant windchimes in this episode with Cherie Scott of Mumbai to Maine, a culinary blog and podcast, and known for her cooking classes featuring Indian cuisine. From pulling sachets of garam masala out of her college suitcase, to hosting the Maine Bicentennial Food Podcast, Cherie shares her lived experiences with Sandy and Hope on how food connects people across cultures.

Cooking for Community

The Christian Science Monitor has published an article highlighting the good work of Cooking for Community.

Today, Cooking for Community (C4C) provides just over 2,000 meals a week. In its first two months, the grassroots initiative raised about $220,000 from individuals, foundations, and corporations. It is buying crops from farmers, seafood from fishers, and keeping many of Greater Portland’s kitchen crews employed while cooking for hungry people.

For more information or to make a donation visit: www.cookingforcommunity.org

Restaurants aiding in the work of C4C are: Chaval, Gather, Istanbul Cafe, Leeward, Little Giant, Maggie Mae’s, Mama Mo’s, Mainely Burgers, Mr. Tuna, Nura, Union, Zu Bakery.

Interview with Nikaline Iacono

For their latest podcast, the founders of Femidish interviewed Nikaline Iacono, the owner of Vessel & Vine in Brunswick.

In this episode Hope and Sandy chat with Nikaline, owner of Vessel and Vine – part bar, part vintage store and so much more, about how quarantine and the ongoing Coronavirus crisis has impacted her business. She shares how she and her all female team have adjusted to keep “the vine” thriving. They discuss the surge of interest in tangible food security and the role restaurants and bars play in building communities.

 

Revolutionary Vegetarian

This past weekend’s Maine Sunday Telegram included an article about a Maine vegetarian whose commitment to a meat-free diet predated the founding of Maine as a state.

In the March 1899 edition of Food Home and Garden magazine, a short piece titled “The Pioneer Vegetarian” profiled Captain Peter Twitchell of Bethel. Born in 1761 in Sherborn, Massachusetts, the captain performed military honors at President Washington’s funeral, first farmed in Bethel in 1784, joined Bethel’s Congregational Church in 1816 and died in the town in 1855, after he was struck by a horse and carriage while out walking at age 94.

Beer and Beards

Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes articles on the stickiness of new curbside beer pick-up and beer delivery services post-pandemic,

Though curbside pick-up and delivery were forced upon brewers by the pandemic, many have discovered how much customers like these services and may keep the systems in place for the foreseeable future. Sullivan surveyed more than 70 breweries about these services and found that 35 percent were interested in keeping some sort of curbside pickup available even after their tasting rooms re-open, while more than 21 percent said they’d be interested in continuing delivery.

and a look at the impact of being a Beard Award nominee during the pandemic.

Desjarlais knows this better than most. Between The Purple House and her much-missed Portland restaurant, Bresca, she has made the semifinal round seven times and the finals twice.

“Every time, it’s great for you personally,” she said. “And it also great for your staff and team, because obviously they’re doing a great job, but it gives them a kick in the pants because the nomination brings a new burst of business and things get can get really busy. But now there’s no chance for that.”

C4C and Save Our Shifts

The Maine Sunday Telegram has published an article about Cooking for Community, a new organization that’s feeding people and supporting restaurants and farms.

The result has been staggering. In five weeks, Cooking for Community has raised over $215,000 in donations, growing from two restaurants to nine and serving meals to people from eight different social networks. It went from serving 450 meals the first week to 2,215 last week. On Thursday alone, the initiative provided 665 meals from four restaurants.

and the Bangor Daily News has published an article about Save Our Shifts, a new media initiative that enables bartenders with a new way to engage in their profession.

Last week, Pomerleau and a cohort of hospitality industry workers launched a campaign to benefit bartenders statewide who have lost work due to the pandemic. The campaign, called Save Our Shifts, offers a glimpse of the future of the profession during a public health crisis, mounting a platform for barkeeps to present mixology tutorials for people drinking at home.

Interview with Emily’s Oysters

Femidish has interviewed Emily Selinger about her aquaculture business and oyster CSA, Emily’s Oysters.

Femidish is a new Maine podcast that seeks to “Elevat[e] the stories of women and their unique abilities to nourish themselves and one another. Conversations about food through a feminist lens.”

Emily’s Oysters was founded in 2018 in Freeport. Their oysters are available via a CSA, and at the Wednesday Portland Farmers’ Market.