I Challenge You to Find ‘More Maine’ Than This Picture Right Here

Making a stop at a Bangor convenience store, I was struck by a visual that I just couldn't shake. It was possibly the "most Maine" I could happen to come across that included three simple things combined into one amazing visual to share. I'm sure it's taste, too. Take a look:

A Classic New England Supper

Personally, I'm not a baked beans person. I grew up in New England, like, a true cross-border New Englander (conceived in Mass, born in New Hampshire, raised in Maine). Like most New Englanders, I grew up eating baked beans. But, one fateful night when I was an adolescent changed my relationship with baked beans in a way that has still traumatized me to this day. I can't touch 'em. Even smelling them causes a little queasiness.

Despite my personal aversion to baked beans, I understand how quintessential baked beans are in New England and here in Maine. They are born from an era where molasses was a big deal and have long held a place on the dinner table as a classic warm-up dish during the cold winters. You wait a long time for this slow-cooked dish.

The Maine Red Snapper

As far as 'Mainer-izing' the baked bean New Englander dish, you gotta put more protein-ish stuff in there with a hot dog. And, in Maine, a true version has to include the ol' red snappah, the red hot dog. The red hot dog is found in few parts of the world but they are renowned here in the state as 'the Maine hot dog'.

A Maine Food Institution

I came across this dish, ready for a hearty lunch or "suppah" at none other than the Dysart's convenience store and restaurant on Broadway in Bangor. Again, another long-held institution of the Bangor area here in the State of Maine. Dysart's Truck Stop in Hermon, the Dysart's OG location, is famous as a destination for great food for truckers on long hauls and locals looking for a great bite to eat. It's credited as an inspiration for Stephen King's writing and has had some pop culture limelight on its own accord from a funny out-takes video featured online from a commercial about the restaurant's "buttery, flakey crust."

The video was a viral hit and even got spoofed on Saturday Night Live.

A Combination Built On Heritage

Combine the legend that is Dysart's, baked beans AND red hot dogs. I just don't know how much more Maine you could get in one picture without it becoming obscene.

Try. I want to see it. Send us submissions through the app if YOU think you have a photo that's 'More Maine' than this iconic photo. If we get lots of submissions, we'll put it to a vote and find the 'Most Maine' photo. Good luck ;)