Great Maine Food
by Martina Duncan
Over 120 new friends, as well as long-time friends, of the Maine Humanities Council gathered on April 28th to celebrate the re-release by Down East Books of Good Maine Food, a cookbook originally published in 1939 by renowned Maine author Kenneth Roberts and his niece and secretary, Marjorie Mosser. When Kenneth Roberts wrote about the food of his childhood in Trending into Maine, it kicked up a storm of recipes and recollections from readers. Roberts asked Mosser to assemble a cookbook of traditional Maine recipes, and Good Maine Food was the result. Roberts’s personal favorites are included along with those of his readers, occasionally seasoned by his characteristically pungent comments.
Inventing Tradition: Good Maine Food featured recipes from the cookbook including potato leek soup, rock cornish game hen with parsnip cakes and carrots, and a banbury tart. All of these dishes are representative of this cookbook, described by Roberts as “a cookbook that ignores cookery that is namby-pamby, twiddly, cloying, fussy, messy and immature and emphasizes foods that appeal to men and women whose talents are sound and sturdy.” In addition to this “good Maine food”, two well-known Maine historians, Emerson “Tad” Baker and Sandy Oliver, provided short presentations on Roberts, his novels, and Mosser, and posed questions about what defines “good Maine food”. These pithy, informative talks fed the discussions at the tables, prompting participants at my table to discuss the food from their childhood, how “Maine food” is defined, Roberts’ novels, and Maine history.
In addition, through the generosity of John and Mary Mills, the MHC is offering a raffle featuring a tour of Roberts’s estate, Rocky Pastures, lunch in Kennebunkport with historian Tad Baker, and a basket of good Maine books. Only 100 are being sold with the drawing to be held on June 1, 2011. Purchase your ticket online.
