Maine’s Downeast culinary history begins well before explorers arrived in the 1500s. Some of the food preparation and preservation techniques used by the Wabanakis and early colonists are still in use today. Lobster and other seafood from the Gulf of Maine and the area now known as Acadia National Park paved the way for a vibrant tourist food scene. The “rusticators†like the Rockefellers, Pulitzers, Astors, Vanderbilts and other wealthy families created a mixed environment of fashionable food trends and simple foods like fish chowder. Locals like the 40 Hayseeders used food as a statement to make fun of the “summer people.†Author Sharon Joyce details the rich and delicious history of food in Downeast Maine.

Maine's Downeast culinary history begins well before explorers arrived in the 1500s. Some of the food preparation and preservation techniques used by the Wabanakis and early colonists are still in use today. Lobster and other seafood from the Gulf of Maine and the area now known as Acadia National Park paved the way for a vibrant tourist food scene. The "rusticators" like the Rockefellers, Pulitzers, Astors, Vanderbilts and other wealthy families created a mixed environment of fashionable food trends and simple foods like fish chowder. Locals like the 40 Hayseeders used food as a statement to make fun of the "summer people." Author Sharon Joyce details the rich and delicious history of food in Downeast Maine.

In This Comprehensive Tome, Oliver brings the traditions and recipes of generations of Maine home cooks to life. Peppered with funny and useful advice from her island kitchen and garden, this book is chock-full of wisdom and stories. Whether you need a quick weekday meal or are indulging in a verified New England feast, the more than one hundred and fifty recipes are a delicious way to eat well and experience the culinary heritage of Maine. Book jacket.

The story of those who inhabited coastal Maine thousands of years before the French arrived, and how their lives changed at the dawn of the seventeenth century. In 1604, when Frenchmen landed on Saint Croix Island, they were far from the first people to walk along its shores. For thousands of years, Etchemins—whose descendants were members of the Wabanaki Confederacy—had lived, loved and labored in Down East Maine. Bound together with neighboring people, all of whom relied heavily on canoes for transportation, trade, and survival, each group still maintained its own unique cultures and customs. After the French arrived, though, these indigenous people faced unspeakable hardships, from “the Great Dying,” when disease killed up to ninety percent of coastal populations, to centuries of discrimination. Yet they never abandoned Ketakamigwa, their homeland. In this book, anthropologist William Haviland relates the challenging history endured by the natives of the Down East coast and how they have maintained their way of life over the past four hundred years. Includes illustrations

Maine is one of the hottest culinary destinations in the country. To celebrate, Down East Books is proud to present the Best Maine Food series, a new line of cookbooks showcasing the state's great food. Kicking it off is this revamped edition of a true Maine classic. In these redesigned pages, longtime food columnist Marjorie Standish tells you how to prepare everything from finnan haddie to dilly green tomatoes to blueberry buckle.

From the Atlantic Ocean to well-tended organic farms, Maine offers some of the best raw materials for rustic, hearty cuisine. Add the independent spirit and quiet humor of the people and it becomes apparent why chefs, fisherman, and artisans are drawn to the state. Their fierce pride, respect for the land, and lack of pretension are recognizable ingredients in the food they produce, from fresh lobster to blueberry pancakes. Dive in to the salty personality of Maine’s cuisine!

A comprehensive and beautifully illustrated overview to the birds of Maine The first comprehensive overview of Maine’s incredibly rich birdlife in more than seven decades, Birds of Maine is a detailed account of all 464 species recorded in the Pine Tree State. It is also a thoroughly researched, accessible portrait of a region undergoing rapid changes, with southern birds pushing north, northern birds expanding south, and once-absent natives like Atlantic Puffins brought back by innovative conservation techniques pioneered in Maine. Written by the late Peter Vickery in cooperation with a team of leading ornithologists, this guide offers a detailed look at the state’s dynamic avifauna—from the Wild Turkey to the Arctic Tern—with information on migration patterns and timing, current status and changes in bird abundance and distribution, and how Maine's geography and shifting climate mold its birdlife. It delves into the conservation status for Maine's birds, as well as the state's unusually textured ornithological history, involving such famous names as John James Audubon and Theodore Roosevelt, and home-grown experts like Cordelia Stanwood and Ralph Palmer. Sidebars explore diverse topics, including the Old Sow whirlpool that draws multitudes of seabirds and the famed Monhegan Island, a mecca for migrant birds. Gorgeously illustrated with watercolors by Lars Jonsson and scores of line drawings by Barry Van Dusen, Birds of Maine is a remarkable guide that birders will rely on for decades to come. Copublished with the Nuttall Ornithological Club

Across Maine, iconic diners come in different shapes and sizes. From the fluffy pancakes as big as a plate to piles of perfectly crisped corned beef hash, these beloved spots have served classic comfort food to generations of hungry patrons. For more than ninety years, Moody's Diner in Waldoboro has offered famous homemade pies to regulars and visitors alike. From the Lumberjack Breakfast at the Palace Diner in Biddeford to the steak and cheese omelet at the Deluxe Diner in Rumford, author Sarah Walker Caron reveals the stories and recipes behind the state's most iconic community eateries.

This celebration of the tradition of the community cookbook is a collection of 200 recipes celebrating Maine's rich culinary past, delicious present, and exciting future. It features recipes from everyday families and home cooks to award-winning chefs and notable Mainers.

“Woodsqueer” is sometimes used to describe the mindset of a person who has taken to the wild for an extended period of time. Gretchen Legler is no stranger to life away from the rapid-fire pace of the twenty-first century, which can often lead to a kind of stir-craziness. Woodsqueer chronicles her experiences intentionally focusing on not just making a living but making a life—in this case, an agrarian one more in tune with the earth on eighty acres in backwoods Maine. Building a home with her partner, Ruth, on their farm means learning to live with solitude, endless trees, and the wild animals the couple come to welcome as family. Whether trying to outsmart their goats, calculating how much firewood they need for the winter, or bartering with neighbors for goods and services, they hone life skills brought with them (carpentry, tracking and hunting wild game) and other skills they learn along the way (animal husbandry, vegetable gardening, woodcutting). Legler’s story is at times humbling and grueling, but it is also amusing. A homage to agrarian American life echoing the back-to-the-land movement popularized in the mid-twentieth century, Woodsqueer reminds us of the benefits of living close to the land. Legler unapologetically considers what we have lost in America, in less than a century—individually and collectively—as a result of our urban, mass-produced, technology-driven lifestyles. Illustrated with rustic pen-and-ink illustrations, Woodsqueer shows the value of a solitary sojourn and both the pathway to and possibilities for making a sustainable, meaningful life on the land. The result, for Legler and her partner, is an evolution of their humanity as they become more physically, emotionally, and even spiritually connected to their land and each other in a complex ecosystem ruled by the changing seasons.