Photograph by Mark Fleming
Article By Rowan Jacobsen
 
Eating a Maine oyster is “like kissing the sea on the lips,” says Rowan Jacobsen, oyster expert and author of A Geography of Oysters. And Jacobsen is a big fan of Maine oysters. In order to tap into his briny brain, we gave this on-the-half-shell connoisseur a dozen different kinds, harvested up and down the Maine coast. Here are his tasting notes (numbers correlate to the numbers on the image at right; click on the image to enlarge it):
 

The peas have arrived. This strikes me as slightly miraculous considering this past month’s weather. I call it “June-tober” — rain and cold temperatures, rain and warm temperatures, rain and more rain. I think about the farmers with their soggy fields, those tender, early crops out there trying to hold on. I hope the sun comes out soon to rescue and dry up this mess. I know we need water, but this is ridiculous.

There are a lot of simple pleasures to be enjoyed on a windjammer cruise, not the least of which is boat-made ice cream. In keeping with the everything done fresh and by hand traditions of the fleet's galleys, ice cream on the windjammers is made in old-fashioned, hand-cranked ice cream churns. Making great ice cream requires team effort and a lot of fun. 

Many factors help make a meal special, yet place is the one most often overlooked. You may be scratching your head about that comment — what does a sense of place have to do with food?

Plenty.