Gary Nabhan and Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) cropped up in the New York TImes Dining section this Wednesday. RAFT is a consortium of several foodie organizations, around the country, most notably Slow Food, dedicated to preserving heirloom edibles, (fruits, veggies, critters). Slow already has created a mechanism for identifying endangered anythings anywhere and additions to its Ark come from around the globe.

I had the distinct pleasure last summer of traveling to Vermont with Russell Libby, head of Maine Organic Farmer’s and Gardeners Association, to meet with Gary and others from Northern New England and New York State. We were there to help list significant foodstuffs in our region for Gary and RAFT to incorporate into a yet another of his several profiles of American regions. RAFT has drawn a perhaps somewhat tongue-in-cheek map of North America divided into Food Nations. Russell and I represented Clambake Nation, as did a few others, essentially the New England Coast, and others came from Maple Syrup Nation which extends inland wherever there are hardwood forests from Canada to Pennsylvania.

Now we can quibble whether we live in Clambake or in Lobster, of which I’d personally prefer the latter which does not yet exist, and I think there ought to be a Baked Bean Nation carved out of Maple Syrup, but these are minor points. The really interesting thing about the RAFT map (just google it) is that by basing food traditions on iconic regional foods or dishes, it comes a lot closer to showing what is distinctive about a regions foodways, because otherwise you have people from all over the place claiming that their particular food is cornbread, or apples, or  pot roast or whatever.

Nabhan and RAFT tie a region’s food habits to climate, vegetation, and culture. They come a lot closer to discovering the real outlines of our food boundaries. Then he lists some of the particular foods endangered, particular kinds of apples, or turnips (as in the Waldoboro Green Necked Turnip), or fish, berry, etc.,  because so doing encourages its production. If you live in Waldoboro (or Nobleboro,  Wiscassett, or Union) and your farmer’s market starts sporting a Green Neck turnip you might just decide it is the right thing for dinner. The more you buy the more the farmer grows, and a good old turnip is saved for the future.

Sandy Oliver, Food Historian, Author, MF&L columnist: The Way Things Were