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To a certain extent, Maine has always been divided.  From the Indian Wars to modern day high school sports rivals, there has always been a tension between east and west, north and south.  These days, though that tension may be more disguised, I-95 is still undoubtedly a fault line of sorts between coastal and inland, ocean and mountains, and… clambakes and maple syrup?

That’s right, the tension between the rolling woods and the rocky coast has been articulated by the traditional food native to each area: maple syrup versus clambake nation.  The NYTimes (with a fantastic interactive map) is reporting that Gary Paul Nabhan, in his new book Renewing America’s Food Traditions, has divided the nation into thirteen culinary regions (see the full article here). The Northwest, for example, is Salmon Nation, while the Gulf Coast is reserved for Gumbo.  The categories facilitate the book’s detailed discussion of endangered regional foods, but they also, intentionally or not, have a lot to say about regional identities, too. And perhaps Nabhan’s portrayal of Maine offers a lesson to us all.

Sure, Maine may have a case of multiple personalities. We’ve got lakes and the Atlantic, mountains and beaches, wood folk and island folk. (We’ll ignore the fact that Nabhan donned Moose Nation on Canada. Evidently he has not been to the County).  But perhaps this particular iteration of the two Maines, of syrup versus lobster, reminds us that we are not that different after all. No one’s asking for syrup instead of drawn butter at the clambake. But what lobsterman from Lubec doesn’t love maple syrup on his stack of blueberry pancakes?  And what sap-collecting syrup producer from South Paris refuses the delicious crustacean?  Further, what Portlander doesn’t take pride in our potatoes and cringe just a bit at the mention of those Idaho ones?  And what Kennebunkport resident doesn’t salivate over freshly killed moose?  OK, maybe that one’s a stretch, but the point is that we can take our maple syrup selves and our clambake selves and acknowledge the more perfect union they form together. 

Check out Portland Psst!'s interpretation here, which identified readers as only from Clambake nation. Here's to hoping there are some maple syrup folk reading this blog too.

Posted on Thursday, May 1, 2008 in Permalink