The Boston Globe did a nice piece on Scratch Baking Co. on Preble St. in South Portland, profiling the five-year-old business and the 1,200 bagels it produces any given Saturday. In addition to the chewy treats, born of starters with names like Lulu and Hans, co-owner Allison Reid and her team also bake breads, cheesecakes and other goodies, as well as sell wine, cheese, sandwiches, and coffee — likely served to you by the same guy who co-founded Vermont’s famed Magic Hat Brewing (producer of one of my all-time favorite beers — No. 9).

Reid, along with her partners Bob Johnson (Magic Hat man turned barista/business manager) and Sonja Swanberg (baker) are perfect examples of what is emblematic of the food scene in Maine, and the  reason why I sneer when chains move into my neighborhood. There is a wonderful, rewarding life to be made in the food world with ideas that spring from your own hands, heart and mind — with or without starters named after Swiss mountaineers. And you can hear it in their own words:

I’m not a real perfectionist … That’s why I love our bagels. They’re all different because [the dough’s] alive, and because [fellow baker Lou Slingerland] had his hands on every one of them. They’re proofed differently, shaped differently, colored differently. And there’s not an endless supply. We’re only gonna make some, and when they run out, that’s it. There’s a lesson in that, especially these days.

My father always tells me: ‘Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.’ I’ll take mine on a rye bagel with some freshly smoked salmon cream cheese, please.

Jessica Strelitz is a contributing writer to Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine.