Ben makes a convincing argument for spending February in Maine

Ben Conniff is President and Co-Founder of Luke's Lobster, a Maine-bred lobster shack with a mission to make the world's best lobster rolls by using traceable, sustainable seafood and respecting its providers and communities. Luke's has 24 locations in the US and 6 in Japan. Ben is also the author of Real Maine Food, a cookbook compiling 100 recipes from across the state using local bounty. @lukeslobster

First memory of campfire cookery

Believe it or not, I was a Cub Scout. So my first campfire cooking involved hot dogs on sticks in various state parks around Connecticut. There's no better way to make a hot dog.

Favorite memory around a bonfire

Every winter we take our most senior Luke's teammates up to Camden, ME for the U.S. National Toboggan Championships. We spend the day hanging around a giant bonfire, grilling lobster tails and chowder, and racing toboggans. It makes February worth living through. 

Worst experience in the outdoors

It's hard to have a bad memory outdoors...but I guess my worst execution was a cross country skiing yurt trip friends and I took in Colorado in college. We trekked up the wrong canyon, parallel to the one where the yurt was, and had to bushwhack over the ridge after sundown in a few feet of snow. Dinner in that yurt in the middle of the night was the most satisfying of my life. 

Can’t wait to

learn a ton from our hosts so I can embark on my own farm restoration someday.