NEW SHARON (AP) – It was probably only a matter of time before the concept of fast food caught up with the time-tested notion of the New England baked bean supper.
But that’s what has happened at the New Sharon Congregational Church, where church volunteers hit upon something pretty modern for rural Maine – baked bean takeout.
For the inaugural takeout in September, organizers prepared 24 fixings of a quart of homemade beans, a loaf of brown bread or six rolls, a pint of cole slaw and a nine-inch pie – all for $12. They sold out by nine a.m.
This month they fixed up 36 meals; by noon, all that remained was a solitary quart of beans.
When all was said and done, churchgoers had sold enough food to feed about 144 people without having to wash a dish. And they had raised $630 for the church.
Church volunteer Mary Harris said it takes hours to fix an old-fashioned sit-down baked bean supper, what with cooking all that food, keeping the coffee pot hot, setting up tables and washing dishes.
“With suppers, there is so much work and you are there for hours. This is much easier,” she said.
Food historian Sandra Oliver of Islesboro, editor of the monthly Food History News, said she had never heard of takeout bean suppers.
Sharing a meal, usually to raise money for a cause, has a long history in rural life, she said.
“I realize that putting on a supper is a big project, but it seems a shame to lose that conviviality of a community sitting down and eating together,” she said.
But the convenience is winning over people.
Picking up a meal at the church, Marie Archer, who runs a dairy farm in Chesterville with her husband, David, said it was a treat because she and her husband never get to go to public suppers.
“After we’re finished milking, it’s too late,” she said.
It’s also helping the church raise money to help pay for a new furnace and siding.
“We are doing this to sustain our church,” said Cherie Sadler. “A big part of what we do is help people in need, and now we can continue doing that.”
AP-ES-10-13-03 0216EDT
Send questions/comments to the editors.
