Meredith Goad – Page 179 – The Portland Press Herald

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, Life & Culture

Soup to Nuts: Portland businessis a honey of an idea

by Meredith Goad November 16, 2011

If you’re a fan of the gooey natural sweetener, you’ll think Phil and Meghan Gaven’s new store is the bee’s knees.

Food

Cookbook Corner: ‘Nadia G’s Bitchin’ Kitchen: Cookin’ for Trouble’

by Meredith Goad November 9, 2011

I’m sure there’s an audience out there somewhere for “Nadia G’s Bitchin’ Kitchen: Cookin’ for Trouble” (Ballantine, $22) by Nadia Giosia. But it’s not me. I suppose Giosia, known as Nadia G on her Cooking Channel show, is intended to be sort of like Carmela Soprano’s hotter, younger sister. She appears on the cover of […]

Food

Food and Dining Dispatches

by Meredith Goad November 9, 2011

BOOTHBAY Kitchen Garden Cafe chef to lead fall baking class Barbara Cary, chef at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens’ Kitchen Garden Cafe, will be giving a hands-on fall baking class from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday. The class will include tips on making homemade pie crusts. Cary will also teach how to make a classic pumpkin […]

Food, Life & Culture

Maine Beer Week: Get your suds on

by Meredith Goad November 9, 2011

See chefs thinking outside the mug and sample a wide array of Maine-made craft brews during this heady first-time event.

Food, Life & Culture

Cookbook Corner: ‘Ultimate Cookies’

by Meredith Goad November 2, 2011

As we approach the holidays, thoughts start turning to special, once-a-year foods, including treats like Christmas cookies. If you really want to bedazzle your friends at parties this year, pick up a copy of “Ultimate Cookies” (Gibbs Smith, $24.99) by the queen of cute cookies, Julia Usher. If you saw her previous book, you already […]

Food, Life & Culture

Food & Dining Dispatches, Nov. 2, 2011

by Meredith Goad November 2, 2011

YORK Farmers market starts Saturday at Legion Hall The Winter Gateway Farmers Market in York will kick off Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at the American Legion. The market will be held on 11 Saturdays between November and March: this Saturday and Nov. 26, Dec. 10 and 17, Jan. 7 and 21, Feb. 4 […]

Food, Life & Culture

Soup to Nuts: Let’s talk turkey

by Meredith Goad November 2, 2011

Choosing a Thanksgiving turkey has become even more complicated than a stroll down the cereal aisle.

Should you buy fresh or frozen? Free-range and organic, or a heritage bird? Kosher, self-basting or premium? Hen versus tom turkey? Just a breast or a whole bird?

Here’s a guide …