First Annual Maine Food Festival
Notes from the First Annual Maine Food Festival
On Saturday, October 12, 2002 I traveled to Unity, Maine to attend the First Annual Maine Food Festival where I had been invited to talk about the history of bean-hole beans. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the Slow Food Convivium of Rockland sponsored the event. The idea of the event was to make the connection between healthy and sustainable local agriculture, together with healthy and locally vibrant cuisine. It was also a heck of a lot of fun. There were twenty or so contestants who brought samples of their favorite recipes of baked beans, a demonstration of bean-hole beans prepared and served by Al and Nancy Putnam of New Limerick, Maine, and several dry bean growers were on hand with beans for sale. There was also an impressive display of bean varieties.
I had a research question in mind when I went to the event. “Just what kinds of bean varieties are used to bake beans in different parts of the state?” I knew that marifax beans were popular in Addison, and Kings clear in Jonesport, folks in the Ellsworth area used Jacob’s Cattle and others in the Penobscot valley preferred yellow eye (except at Brewer church suppers where they prefer the little white pea beans). Well, I didn’t learn much more than that, but one important bit of information I got from the growers was that the marifax bean had been introduced to Downeast Maine by the federal government in the Depression. It’s a small, round, brown bean that can handle the tough growing conditions of Washington county and still put out a good crop.
I decided that I would contact some of the bean growers later this winter for a more formal discussion about bean varieties, but meanwhile I got to taste twenty different batches of baked beans. Some were made in the bean hole, and some in the oven. Some had very little sweetness, some were more flavored with salt pork, some had the smokey flavor of smoked pork, some were sweeter, having more molasses.
Well, I’m not going to reveal who I voted for, since some of my personal friends and neighbors were contestants, but I can say there weren’t any beans I didn’t like. I came away with two pounds of yellow eye beans (my personal favorite) and a plan to bake some this coming weekend.
I’m looking forward to the second annual event and conducting more food research.
– Pauleena MacDougall