Food History of Portland

Key eras

1632 to 1820, the colonial fishing port

Portland was founded as a fishing and trading port on the Casco Bay in 1632, named Casco then Falmouth. Cod, mackerel and lobster were salted and shipped to Boston and the West Indies. Lobster was so abundant it was fed to servants and prisoners; pre-1840 Maine law limited servants to no more than three lobster meals per week.

1820 to 1920, the steam era and the canning industry

When Maine separated from Massachusetts in 1820, Portland became the state's commercial capital. The 1840s steam-canning industry put Maine lobster on the national table; by 1880, more than 23 canneries operated along the coast. Sicilian immigrants from Sciacca and Carini settled India Street and Munjoy Hill in the 1880s, founding the bakeries and corner shops that defined Italian-American Portland.

1902, the Maine Italian sandwich is invented

In 1902 Giovanni Amato, a Sicilian immigrant baker, sold dock workers a soft roll filled with ham, salami, cheese, olives, onions, tomatoes, oil and salt from his Italian Sandwich Shop on India Street. The Maine Italian became Portland's regional sandwich. The 1902 Amato's still operates on India Street as the canonical original.

1960s to 1990s, the waterfront revival

Portland's working waterfront was nearly demolished in the 1960s urban-renewal push; the Portland Society for Architecture led the 1972 fight to preserve the Old Port brick warehouses. The 1988 Gritty McDuff's opening on Fore Street launched Maine's craft brewing revival; Fore Street in 1996 made fine dining a Portland tourist driver.

2010 to present, the James Beard era

Eventide Oyster Co opened 2012 and The Honey Paw 2015 from Big Tree Hospitality (Andrew Taylor, Mike Wiley, Arlin Smith), putting Middle Street on the national map. Bon Appetit named Portland Restaurant City of the Year 2018; James Beard semifinalists and winners now run shops up and down India Street and Washington Avenue. New Mainer African, Vietnamese and Salvadoran kitchens redrew the post-2015 dining map.

Immigrant influences

• Italian (Sicilian): Sicilian immigrants from Sciacca and Carini settled India Street and Munjoy Hill in the 1880s. Amato's 1902 Maine Italian, Micucci's grocery and the slice-pizza tradition define Italian-American Portland.
• Irish: Famine-era Irish settled Munjoy Hill and the West End in the 1840s; the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (1869) anchored the community. Brian Boru and Gritty McDuff's preserve the pub-and-fish-chowder line.
• Vietnamese: Vietnamese refugees arrived after 1975; pho restaurants on Forest Avenue and Cong Tu Bot on Washington Avenue (since 2017) are the modern flagships, with Public Market House counters carrying the everyday bowl trade.
• Somali, Sudanese and Congolese: Portland is a major US resettlement city for East African refugees from the 1990s onward. Restaurants on Forest Avenue and the African Markets at Anderson Street and Washington Avenue carry the New Mainer food economy.
• Salvadoran and Honduran: Central American immigration since the 2000s grew the pupusa-and-baleada counter trade. Tu Casa on Washington Avenue is the East Bayside Salvadoran flagship.

Signature innovations

• The Maine Italian sandwich, Amato's 1902, soft roll plus seven fillings
• The Maine lobster roll, both Maine-style cold mayo and Connecticut-style warm butter
• Gritty McDuff's 1988, the first US East Coast brewpub revival
• Eventide brown butter lobster roll on a steamed bao bun, 2012
• The Holy Donut Maine potato donut, Leigh Kellis 2012
• Speckled Ax wood-fired coffee roasting, Matt Bolinder 2007 (Portland shop 2012)