Across the country Wednesday is food day at newspapers everywhere from small-town dailies to big-city publications. But in Portland, which is renowned as a foodie mecca in a state that is locavore heaven, the Portland Press Herald gives its hometown short shrift. There is no Wednesday food anymore. Instead, there’s’ this anemic section on Sundays. That in itself was not a bad idea to reserve Sunday for a food section if it were a blockbuster instead of a thin section mostly devoted to wire copy.
Last week’s front page food features in four Northeastern dailies. Clockwise Left, Bangor Daily News, Portland Press Herald (The Wrap buried in the Business section), Boston Globe and the New York Times
Wednesday at the PPH gives one nod to food day: Veteran food pro Meredith Goad’s weekly column called “The Wrap,” which tells us about all the new goings on in the food world of Greater Portland. It’s a great column. Word has it, though, that the paper’s staffers have voiced concern that the higher ups killed Wednesday Food.
What gets me is that the paper has an actual food editor who makes a rare appearance in print with occasional articles that are more like ditties than features. Where’s the direction to lead the paper into seasonal food topics that are part and parcel of our vital local food scene? Farm to table anyone?
But with internet access (even with those pesky pay walls) you can see every paper’s food sections online. I subscribe to both print and digital for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Bangor Daily News and the erstwhile Portland Press Herald.
Of the group, the Globe is often the most interesting offering articles on food and dining that matter. This week it offers a front-page full-color feature on Boston’s newest food hall, the Time Out Market in the Fenway. For home cooking, there’s a recipe for the perfect lobster roll to make at home instead of spending a fortune at restaurants or lobster eateries. Another recipe feature that caught my attention was for a great looking blueberry cake (high-bush), which looks tempting enough to clip and save—and lots more that make this food section so worthwhile.
Clockwise, left: today’s Bangor Daily News, the New York Times and The Boston Globe
Even The Bangor Daily News has an admirable food section. This week’s feature is a front-page feature on all the new eateries sprouting up in Belfast.
Of course, the Times has its usual mix of NYC food stories including great restaurant reviews and various food articles that are always clip-worthy tempting recipes.
TV cooking shows and the infinite wisdom of the internet have pretty much challenged the importance of food in newspapers. But they still exist and as far as I can tell, we all want to look at food on Wednesdays even at our local paper, if itexcept at our own local paper.
