PORTLAND, Maine — Karl Schatz and Margaret Hathaway are a formidable pair.
A husband and wife with three daughters, they live on Ten Apple Farm in Gray, raising goats, tending a garden and orchard, teaching workshops, and running a guesthouse. They’ve also written more than a half dozen books, including the "Maine Bicentennial Community Cookbook," which was so popular that it led to a second volume, the "Maine Community Cookbook."
Now they’re off and running with a new project, a nonprofit called Community Plate. They started it after reading a 2023 report from the Surgeon General detailing America’s epidemic of loneliness. If the problem was loneliness, then the solution, they figured, might be food.
"I think when you’re sharing a meal with someone, your defenses are down in a way that makes it very easy to have a meaningful conversation," Hathaway said. "I think food just lends itself to forming community."
Community Plate is sponsoring a series of what Schatz and Hathaway call Story Sharing Potluck Suppers. They’re free public events that bring people together, and the formula is simple: Just show up with a dish, a recipe, and a story to share about what you brought. During coffee and dessert, experienced storytellers entertain the guests. A few weeks later, everyone who attended receives a slim cookbook featuring the stories and recipes from that special evening.
You don’t cook? Not a problem. You can bring a bottle of Moxie.
Hate public speaking? You don’t have to tell a story.
Can’t afford to make a dish? You don’t have to bring one. There’s always plenty of food.
Several dinners have been held around the state, the first in Lubec, the next on March 9 in Orono, and then on March 28 in Brunswick. The aim is to have a dinner in each of Maine’s sixteen counties within the first year. So far the response has been more than gratifying.
"I think there are a lot of people who come into the room hesitant to share a story," Hathaway said. "By 15 minutes into the event they’re connecting. It’s hard not to."