Industry | Restaurant |
---|---|
Founded | February 7, 1974 |
Founders |
|
Defunct | 1981 |
Headquarters | , United States |
The Hollow Reed was a vegetarian restaurant in the Old Port district of Portland, Maine. It opened on February 7, 1974, and closed in 1981, and is cited for its influence on the city's notable restaurant culture. [1] [2]
The Hollow Reed was opened on 334 Fore Street [3] in the Old Port's Boothby Square on February 7, 1974, by vegetarians and volunteers at the Good Day Market cooperative grocery store Victoria Jahn, Bobbi Goodman and Frank LaTorre. [4] [5] The Hollow Reed was the first vegetarian restaurant in Portland. [5] After a restoration the original brick walls and dark beams were left intact. [6]
The Hollow Reed was an all-vegetarian restaurant during 1974, but in 1975 seafood was added to the menu. Later the restaurant added chicken and meat to the menu. The restaurant's change of the menu was controversial with shoppers at the all-vegetarian Good Day Market and this caused the market to make and sell vegetarian sandwiches. [4] [6] The Hollow Reed closed in 1981.
The restaurant was located in the Samuel Butts House, formerly known as the Mariner's House, a historic colonial-style building built in 1792. It is the second-oldest extant building on the Portland peninsula, after the Wadsworth-Longfellow House. [7]
In 2009, Maine writer Elizabeth Peavey wrote about Portland in the 1980s, "when this was a cowboy town — unprettified, unsanitized, still a little dangerous" and said "a trip to the very groovy Hollow Reed in the Old Port was a must." [8] In 2011, the editor of Portland magazine, Colin Sargent, wrote about the past 25 years in the city and wrote that "a new wave of restaurants in Portland dazzled diners" and said The Hollow Reed was a "beloved vegetarian restaurant on Fore Street." [1] In 2018, the chef and owner of Fore Street restaurant, Sam Hayward, told the Portland Press Herald that The Hollow Reed was one of four restaurants from the Old Port's early days that "deserve some of the credit for the city’s current reputation as a culinary destination." [2] In 2019, organic farmer Mort Mather recalled selling to the Hollow Reed, which he called "one of the first quality restaurants in Portland’s Old Port." [9] In 2024 journalist Avery Yale Kamila wrote that The Hollow Reed was "foundational in building Portland’s food culture." [4]
New England cuisine is an American cuisine which originated in the New England region of the United States, and traces its roots to traditional English cuisine and Native American cuisine of the Abenaki, Narragansett, Niantic, Wabanaki, Wampanoag, and other native peoples. It also includes influences from Irish, French-Canadian, Italian, and Portuguese cuisine, among others. It is characterized by extensive use of potatoes, beans, dairy products and seafood, resulting from its historical reliance on its seaports and fishing industry. Corn, the major crop historically grown by Native American tribes in New England, continues to be grown in all New England states, primarily as sweet corn although flint corn is grown as well. It is traditionally used in hasty puddings, cornbreads and corn chowders.
Portland is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area has a population of approximately 550,000 people. Historically tied to commercial shipping, the marine economy, and light industry, Portland's economy in the 21st century relies mostly on the service sector. The Port of Portland is the second-largest tonnage seaport in the New England area as of 2019.
Jeremiah Hacker was a missionary, reformer, vegetarian, and journalist who wrote and published The Pleasure Boat and The Chariot of Wisdom and Love in Portland, Maine, from 1845 to 1866.
The Pleasure Boat was a reform journal published in Portland, Maine, during the mid-nineteenth century by the Quaker reformer and journalist Jeremiah Hacker.
A vegetarian hot dog is a hot dog produced completely from non-meat products. Unlike traditional home-made meat sausages, the casing is not made of intestine, but of cellulose or other plant-based ingredients. The filling is usually based on some sort of soy protein, wheat gluten, or pea protein. Some may contain egg whites, which would make them unsuitable for a lacto-vegetarian or vegan diet.
The Old Port is a district of Portland, Maine, known for its cobblestone streets, 19th-century brick buildings and fishing piers. The district contains boutiques, restaurants and bars.
Cranks was a chain of English wholefood vegetarian restaurants. It was founded and owned by David and Kay Canter and Daphne Swann, and its flagship restaurant was at Marshall Street in the West End of London.
Helen Knothe Nearing was an American author, advocate of simple living and a lifelong vegetarian.
The Portland Farmers Market is a farmers market in Portland, Maine, U.S., which has been in continuous operation since 1768. Since 1990, the market has been held place year-round. From May to November, it is held on Wednesdays in Monument Square and on Saturdays in Deering Oaks Park. From December to April, the winter market is held on Saturdays in the former Catherine McAuley High School building.
The Common Ground Country Fair, also known as the Common Ground Fair, is an agricultural fair in Unity, Maine held the third weekend after Labor Day and sponsored by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA). It is held at the Common Ground Education Center. It was first held in 1977. The fair "celebrates organic living, farming and growing," and all the food sold at the event must be organic. The fair regularly hosts 50,000 to 60,000 people.
Toni Fiore is an American TV host, cookbook author, and chef, focusing on vegetarian and vegan dishes.
Avery Yale Kamila is an American journalist and community organizer in the state of Maine. Kamila has written a food column for the Portland Press Herald /Maine Sunday Telegram and its affiliated newspapers since 2009.
A vegan school meal or vegan school lunch or vegan school dinner or vegan hot lunch is a vegan option provided as a school meal. A small number of schools around the world serve vegan food or are vegan schools, serving exclusively vegan food.
Horace A. Barrows was an American physician who practiced in Western Maine in the early 19th century, made and sold plant-based medicines, prescribed a vegetarian diet and invested in local businesses.
The Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro is a vegetarian restaurant serving Thai cuisine in Portland, Maine, that opened in 2007 in the city's Arts District. A second Green Elephant restaurant is located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Both have received critical attention for their vegetarian dishes.
Henry Aiken Worcester was a Yale University alumnus, a vegetarian, and a Swedenborgian minister who worked in Maine and Massachusetts. His "Sermons on the Lord's Prayer" was published posthumously in 1850.
The Great Lost Bear is a bar and restaurant at 540 Forest Avenue in Portland, Maine, United States. Established in 1979 by Dave and Weslie Evans and Chip MacConnell, it is noted for its selection of draft craft beers.
Fore Street is a downtown street in Portland, Maine, United States. Dating to 1724, it runs for around 1 mile (1.6 km), from the Eastern Promenade on Munjoy Hill in the northeast to Pleasant Street in the southwest. Near its midsection, Fore Street crosses Franklin Street. It splits briefly at Boothby Square, shortly after passing the United States Custom House. The street passes through the Old Port district.
The Samuel Butts House is a historic colonial-style building in Portland, Maine, United States. Located in Boothby Square, on Fore Street, the building was completed in 1792, when Fore Street was at the shoreline of the Fore River estuary. It is the second-oldest extant building on the Portland peninsula, after the Wadsworth-Longfellow House, which pre-dates it by around six years. It is believed its third storey was added well after the building was completed.
43°39′24″N70°15′06″W / 43.6568°N 70.2518°W