From left: Moderator Danielle Nierenberg of Food Tank, Imani Black of Minorities in Aquaculture, Ben Conniff of Luke’s Lobster, Dave Herring of Wolfe’s Neck Center and Ezekiel Iraoya of Luke’s Lobster Lift All Boats Project discussed strengthening the aquaculture community at the Edible Institute. Sophie Burchell / The Forecaster

When hosting an event about Maine’s food, it surprised no one that the topic of seafood swam to the forefront.

On Friday, Sept. 13, the food publication company Edible Communities hosted its traveling Edible Institute in Portland, the first time the annual event has come to Maine. Highlighting a different region’s food landscape each year, the day-long event emphasized the role of Maine’s fisheries and aquaculture in the future of food under the theme “Waves of Change.”

“This year being in Portland, Maine, and right next to the ocean, it was obvious that we needed to talk about seafood and aquaculture and how those two are working together for more sustainable food systems,” said Sarah Findle, director of development and marketing at Edible Communities and an organizer of the event.

Edible Communities is best known as the group of independently owned regional culinary magazines, with “edible MAINE” being the publication distributed across Portland. Each year, the organization also hosts the Edible Institute in a different city, exploring the cultural, economic and political dynamics of food in that region.

Portland was selected for the event this year due to the presence of “edible MAINE,” the launch of “Edible New Hampshire” next spring, and the city’s increasing reputation as a destination for “foodies,” said Findle. The two most recent locations of the Edible Institute were Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2023 and Denver, Colorado, in 2022 and focused on soil health and Indigenous foodways.

The Portland event took place at the University of Southern Maine’s Hannaford Hall and had 150 attendees from across Maine and the country. The crowd included chefs, journalists, farmers, Portland business and nonprofit leaders, and general food enthusiasts.

Event speakers included local experts and national figures, such U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, author and chef Barton Seaver, Luke’s Lobster cofounder Ben Conniff and Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association’s Executive Director Sarah Alexander.

Panel and lecture topics included the Farm Bill and aiding farmers with PFAS-contaminated soil, increasing diversity in the aquaculture and lobster industries, the health and environmental benefits of consuming seafood, and how fisheries strengthen local economies.

“There is such a wealth of knowledge, expertise and just admirable work going on in Maine that it was almost overwhelming to plan only a one-day event,” said Findle.

In his presentation, Seaver dubbed himself as an “evangelist” for the health and economic benefits of seafood to the consumer. Now living in Freeport, he has traveled the world with National Geographic improving the sustainability of fisheries and has written cookbooks that encourage home chefs to incorporate more seafood.

“Now, instead of being like, ‘People, we gotta fix seafood,’ it’s now like, ‘Hey, let’s start using seafood to fix people,’” said Seaver.

Seaver emphasized the need to more deeply integrate seafood not just into Maine diets, but also Maine food economies.

“We Mainers need to support innovative market approaches that focus on the inherent value of seafood harvested by our neighbors. Just as the resurgence of farmers markets revitalized local food economies, fishermen need alternative and civic routes to market,” he said.

Imani Black, oyster farmer and founder of Minorities in Aquaculture, spoke on the “Setting a Full Table” panel. She shared the importance of creating opportunities in person and online for young people to see work in the seafood industry and imagine those careers for themselves, especially if their identies are not traditionally represented in the industry.

“I feel like oyster farmers and some lobster and fishermen get a lot of flack for using social media. But how many people now know about (a) certain industry because of that? And so we really think about the survival of the entire industry,” said Black. “It might not look like how we’ve done it traditionally, but … we’re trying to just keep this alive and just keep it going for them.”

Organizations had the opportunity to display their work in sustainable agriculture, fisheries and culinary innovation to attendees in the Hannaford Hall lobby.

“I’m really excited about the variety of some bigger brands and organizations, and then some smaller ones, and even some nonprofits that are uplifting the next generation of those sustainable food systems, which is really exciting,” said Findle.

Saltwater Classroom, a Portland-based ocean education nonprofit, had a table at the event. Its founder and executive director, Alexandra Doudera, said she was getting inspired to add content from the institute to the educational materials the nonprofit is developing online.

“For this online platform, I’m working on developing collaborative content for it, and my wheels are already turning about all the things we can do with seafood recipes,” said Doudera.

“The Edible community is amazing. It’s so nice to see so many familiar faces from the food scene and the larger global economy space, but also to connect with new people,” she said.

The Marine Stewardship Council, a global nonprofit that sets standards for sustainable fisheries, also had a table at the event. Senior Communications Manager Jackie Marks said that the team made the journey from their Washington, D.C., office largely because of the event’s emphasis on sustainable seafood.

“The ‘Waves of Change’ theme, that was key for us. As a nonprofit organization focused on sustainable fishing, it was a no-brainer. Plus, Portland is incredible,” she said.

Portland restaurant owner Jordan Rubin attended the Edible Institute event to gain more insight into the city’s and state’s culinary scene and industry leaders, he said. His business, Mr. Tuna, exclusively uses local seafood and just opened its first brick-and-mortar location after operating a “mobile sushi bar” from a truck since 2017.

“I moved to Portland 10 years ago. The amount of restaurants has grown, the quality of restaurants has grown. The focus on using local ingredients has grown a lot,” said Rubin.

“I’m happy to be in a state like Maine that cares so much about supporting local food, cares about the environment and food. You don’t see that everywhere,” he said.