Moving

How Portland lured America’s prime specialty meals awards present away from San Francisco

The Good Food Awards, a food trade show that highlights great-tasting products made with environmental and social responsibility in mind, will be moving its awards ceremony from San Francisco to Portland for the first time this year.

At first glance, the move feels like a match made in slow food heaven. Portland has dozens of small and large specialty stores. The restaurants here follow the farm-to-table approach pioneered by Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters — the ceremony’s longtime host of honor — as a founding principle. And local chefs have long argued — and even fought — for Portland’s supremacy over San Francisco when it comes to food.

But now, after more than a decade in San Francisco, Good Food Awards executive director Sarah Weiner says the show is moving to Portland for practical and personal reasons.

On the one hand, Oregon’s travel organizations — Travel Oregon, Travel Portland — and commodity commissions — the Oregon Dairy and Nutrition Council, the Blackberry and Raspberry Commission, etc. — have done something California never did: financially support the awards show and its attendees. Ditto for Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Depending on how things go this year, the move could be permanent.

On the other hand, Weiner moved to Portland herself five years ago after falling in love with the city’s laid-back vibe. Several members of the Good Food team also live here.

(The Good Food Foundation, a nonprofit that works with specialty food and beverage companies nationwide, will remain headquartered in San Francisco for the time being.)

Last year, for the first time in Portland, the foundation hosted a smaller event, the Good Food Mercantile, which attracted 14 sponsors, more than double the number of similar events in New York or San Francisco.

“We felt embraced by the city,” Weiner said.

Despite some typical late April rains, a welcome dinner for Mercantile sponsors at Bar Casa Vale restaurant in southeast Portland last year sealed the deal for Weiner and the Good Food team.

“We had so many sponsors that we thought, let’s do a welcome dinner for everyone and put an Oregon twist on a traditional Spanish Spring Onion Festival,” Weiner said. “They grilled them (calçots, a spring leek popular in the Catalan region of Spain) outside on this big grill, wrapped them in newspaper, and everyone got their hands dirty dipping them in romesco sauce. It was just that social moment where the community came together to celebrate the harvest.”

Oregon typically ranks behind California in terms of the annual number of attendees for the awards show, Weiner says. In addition to paying an application fee, companies are required to demonstrate that they are “a genuine member of the good food community committed to promoting equity and inclusion at every level of their business,” among other standards that focus on responsible and sustainable practices. This year’s event attracted more than 2,000 entries in categories including beer, cheese, chocolate, honey and pickles.

Local winners from last year’s ceremony include sambal from Sibeiho, chorizo ​​from Olympia Provisions and a hot habanero sauce from Hot Mama Salsa. This year’s finalists include Smoked Geoduck by Tiny Fish Co. by Executive Chef Sara Hauman, Yakisoba Pasta and Sauce by Umi Organics, and Horseradish Vodka by Kachka.

[Related: Here are Oregon’s 2023 finalists for the Good Food Awards]

Good Food Award winners label their products with a small blue sticker, a mark of quality that can draw the attention of social media influencers and specialty grocery stores alike. In the Olympia Provisions cookbook, co-owner Elias Cairo credits early Good Food Awards wins with propelling his burgeoning Portland charcuterie business to the shelves of San Francisco’s influential Bi-Rite Market, Dean & Deluca stores and more.

Cairo, the event’s master of ceremonies, will be joined by keynote speaker and restaurant sustainability advocate, Anthony Myint. Waters, the owner of Chez Panisse, is having an Earth Day lunch with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and isn’t sure if she’ll be able to attend.

The Good Food Awards will celebrate the winners and their families for the first time in Portland on Friday, April 21 at 6:00 p.m. at Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark St. More than 700 people are expected. An industry-only Mercantile event follows Saturday at the Portland Night Market building, 100 SE Alder St.

— Michael Russel; mrussell@oregonian.com

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