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

You’ve read about Google’s awesome cafeteria. Idexx has Maine’s version

by Meredith Goad January 21, 2015January 22, 2015

Idexx hopes the way to healthy, productive employees’ hearts is through food – think brick-oven pizza, creative salad toppings, a bake shop, even sushi prepared by a chef on site.

Business, News

Full Belly Deli, Portland’s only Jewish delicatessen, closes

by Meredith Goad January 20, 2015January 21, 2015

Oy vey! The restaurant is a victim of high rents and competition from chain restaurants.

Homegrown, Source

Homegrown: Different Drummer ducky

by Meredith Goad January 18, 2015January 15, 2015

This little wooden duck is as simple as it gets, but you should have heard the “awwwws” it elicited at a baby shower last week. The duck is handmade by Frank Ridley at Different Drummer Workshop in Solon. It’s a small family business that’s been making wooden toys, mostly from white pine, since 1973. Ridley […]

Food

Ice cream when it’s 11 below out? Are you kidding?

by Meredith Goad January 14, 2015February 3, 2015

Intrepid reporter Meredith Goad searches out the hard-core ice cream eaters.

Homegrown, Source

Homegrown: Basil flower vinegar from The Maine Accent

by Meredith Goad January 11, 2015January 12, 2015

The small family business sells what it grows in its gardens just outside Hallowell

Food, Recipes, Signature Dish

Signature Dish: Long Creek chaplain has raised 13 boys on love and chicken

by Meredith Goad January 7, 2015March 11, 2015

Dan Mercer’s Champagne Chicken is a beloved favorite in his Scarborough home.

Homegrown, Source

Homegrown Raspberry-Chocolate Jam

by Meredith Goad January 4, 2015January 1, 2015

Open a jar of raspberry jam, and you expect to smell raspberries. Open a jar of Above the Dam Jam’s Raspberry Chocolate Jam, and it’s chocolate that comes singing through with the strongest notes. This little family-owned company, based in Dayton, takes seasonal ingredients and develops interesting flavor combinations for its products. Think strawberry-basil jam, […]