The so-called farm-to-table trend in dining is getting a lot of play lately amongst home cooks and big city restaurants around the country. But to many Mainers it’s the way life should be. The draw is this: even the simplest preparations taste wildly wonderful when you use the best, freshest ingredients.

Natural and organic farming has had a stronghold in Maine for years, and the locally coined phrase, “field to fork” is part of the Maine vocabulary. Farmer’s markets have grown by leaps and bounds, drawing local crowds who sift among the stalls as carefully as inspecting rare coins. These cooks just won’t settle for anything less than locally grown.