Kicking off my recaps of the greatest food event of the year with the first event of the weekend, East Coast vs. West Coast!
Before we dive into the fun, let me tell you what Feast Portland is all about. Back in 2012, the first Feast event was held, raising money for Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. 7 years later, Feast welcomed 21,382 total attendees to 47 unique events during the four-day festival. There were 131 participating chefs – 90 local chefs and 41 visiting chefs coming to Feast from 15 other states and 4 other countries (Australia, Turkey, Hong Kong, Canada).
This year, Feast raised an incredible $78,450 for Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon and Urban Gleaners, bringing the total amount raised since 2012 to $523,590! These organizations do some great things for our local communities. Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon is a statewide nonprofit organization that raises awareness about the problem of hunger and solutions, advocates for more programs and policies to end hunger, and connects communities to food resources. Urban Gleaners collects and redistributes over 70,000 pounds of food locally every month, feeding more than 5,000 people every week through school pantries, summer free farmers markets, and Mobile Markets at low-income housing communities.
Is there a better way to kick off four days of food and fun that with a fun competition between food inspired by the East Coast and West Coast? I don’t think so!
While most of the chefs involved were local to the Portland area, some of them represented the East Coast veryyyyyy well. So well, in fact, that the East Coast ended up winning the competition! As much as I wanted the West Coast to win (because West Coast, best coast), my favourite bite of the night was this East Coast inspired Crispy NC-style Scrapple On Squishy Potato Bun With Egg Yolk and Tabasco Cherry Tomato Jam from Maya Lovelace of local restaurant, Yonder.
One of my instructors from culinary school was representing the West Coast. I threw that Chanterelle Mushroom Tart with Smoked Tomato, Corn and Goat Milk Ricotta down my throat so fast I didn’t take a picture. But it was gooooood. He was so much fun to learn from and certainly knows how to make the most of local ingredients.
My first bite of the evening? This Roasted Pork Belly, Sweet Corn, Heirloom Tomatoes, Peanut Dukkah. You guysssssss. This was a good way to start off the night! It looked so pretty I almost didn’t want to eat it, but I’m glad I did. It was so damn tasty.
I lacked pictures of this event because I was so busy soaking up the environment and stuffing my face, but here are a few more that I was able to get pictures of before I started chowing down.
Open-faced Pastrami Reuben On Miniature Rye Bagel
Suckling Pig and Smoked Rabbit Gumbo
And dessert from Burgerville. Complete with some chocolate imprinted with the good old Portland airport carpet.
This event was really such a fun way to kick off the weekend. The weather was beautiful, the music was loud, the food was delicious and the drinks kept flowing. Maybe next year we’ll be able to get the West Coast to come out on top!
