Down East Delicious by Sandra Oliver

Down East Delicious by Sandra Oliver

Residing on Maine's Islesboro Island, Sandra Oliver is a revered food historian with a vast knowledge of New England food history, subsistence living, and Yankee cooking. For the past five years, she has published her weekly recipes column, “Tastebuds,” in the Bangor Daily News. The column has featured hundreds of recipes—from classic tried-and-true dishes to innovative uses for traditional ingredients. Collecting more than 200 recipes from her column and from folks who have shared them with from all over the state, and emphasizing fresh, local ingredients, as well as the common ingredients found in most kitchens, this volume represents a new standard in home cooking. Also included are chapters with recipes and insights on canning, preserving, brining, and pickling.

In this comprehensive tome, Oliver brings the traditions and recipes of generations of Maine home cooks to life. Peppered with funny and useful advice from her island kitchen and garden, this book is chock-full of wisdom and stories. Whether you need a quick weekday meal or are indulging in a New England feast, these recipes are a delicious way to eat well and experience the culinary heritage of Maine.

Sandra Oliver is a pioneering food historian who began her work in 1971 at Mystic Seaport Museum, where she developed a fireplace cooking program in an 1830s house. Sandra is a freelance food writer, with her column, “Tastebuds” appearing each weekend in the Bangor Daily News, and regular columns in Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors magazine and the Working Waterfront. She is also the author of the books, Maine Home Cooking, Saltwater Foodways: New Englanders and Their Foods at Sea and Ashore in the 19th Century, The Food of Colonial and Federal America and Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving History and Recipes from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie, which she co-authored with Kathleen Curtin.

She often speaks to historical organizations and food professional groups around the country, organizes historical dinners, and conducts classes and workshops in food history and sustainable gardening and cooking. Sandy lives on Islesboro, an island in Penobscot Bay, where she gardens, preserves, cooks, and teaches sustainable lifeways.