Meredith Goad

Staff Writer

Many people tell Meredith Goad that she has the best job in Maine, and most of the time she agrees.

Maine has a crazy appetite for food stories, and it’s Meredith’s job to satisfy those cravings with juicy tales from chefs, food producers, local farms, and the state’s fast-growing restaurant scene. Her work appears in Wednesday’s Business section and the Sunday Food & Dining section, and occasionally, but not as often as she’d like, on the front page.

A native of Memphis, Tenn., Meredith shamelessly flaunts her knowledge of good barbecue in front of her Yankee friends. She earned a bachelor of science degree in wildlife biology from Colorado State University, then studied science writing at the University of Missouri, where she received a master’s degree in journalism. She spent the first 20 years of her career covering science and environmental news, then switched to features in 2004, just as Portland’s food scene was taking off.

Her own most memorable meal? Back in the 1980s, on assignment in Finland, she shared a dinner of reindeer and Russian vodka with Maryland’s governor and a bunch of hungry scientists.

Meredith lives in Portland, but spends much of her time off back in Tennessee - either visiting family, or in online archives, researching her family’s history.

Food

One Mainer takes advantage of Restaurant Week to eat, spy, savor

by Meredith Goad March 4, 2015March 5, 2015

Randa Vashon works in the restaurant industry – and is a big fan of the annual event.

Homegrown, Source

Homegrown: reusable ‘paper’ towels

by Meredith Goad March 1, 2015February 26, 2015

These pretty, reusable “paper” towels, handmade by Anne Riggs in Portland, come in sets of 12 and even snap together into a roll. They’re the most popular of Riggs’ handicrafts, which run the gamut from sandwich bags and bowl covers to baby wipes – yes, baby wipes. Riggs, a retired teacher, started her sewing business […]