2024 Marks the Event’s Second Year in Portland
Like Moira Rose, I veer to ‘awards’ whenever someone asks what my favorite season is. I’m admittedly not much of a movie buff, and don’t watch TV save for a handful of comfort shows (including Schitt’s Creek, obviously). For me, awards season means food, and specifically the Good Food Foundation Awards, bestowed annually to honor the absolute best in makers of tasty, authentic and responsible food and drink across the United States. Chosen through a rigorous blind tasting and sustainability vetting process, winning products are chosen based on taste while demonstrating an outstanding commitment to sustainable environmental and social practices. This is worth celebrating.
Last night’s awards ceremony took place at Portland Center Stage, and opened with remarks from Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who welcomed a full house of six hundred guests. Dana Cowin, the longtime Editor-in-Chief of Food & Wine Magazine, was the evening’s MC, and Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of the legendary Zingerman’s Family of Businesses, delivered the keynote address. Good Food Founder and Executive Director Sarah Weiner closed out the evening with a poignant and touching speech acknowledging the journey and efforts of those who craft food and drink both artfully and responsibly:
“My wish for you is that tonight is just the start of the celebration and the rejuvenation that you deserve. Having struggled to care for your team and farmers and customers over many years, you can let those around you rise up and carry some of the burden. That you make time to explore new delights, to cultivate your gardens. That you refill your well so your creations can continue to be powered by the vibrant energy and singular vision only you can bring to them.”
(I’m not crying, you’re crying!).
Not surprisingly, Oregon made a good showing among the winners. For the first time that I can recall, two Oregon makers took home awards for Olive Oil. Both Durant Olive Mill and La Creole Orchards were honored. Durant Olive Mill was founded in 2008 and is home to seventeen acres of olive trees and a state-of-the-art Italian mill at Red Ridge Farms in Dundee, Oregon. Their olive oils are available online and at the Olive Mill itself. Creole Orchards is located in Dallas, Oregon and supports research at Oregon State with the aim of identifying cold-hardy olive varieties and using a state-of-the-art water efficiency system for summer irrigation. They are a little tougher to find as they collaborate directly with chefs and tend to pop up at a handful of farmer’s markets across the state.
Molalla’s Mt. Hope Farms took home an award for their wonderful marionberry jam, a perfect homage to our region. It’s always nice to see good things happen to lovely people and that’s the best way to describe Owners Mike and Laura. And their marionberry jam is just the beginning. I’m absolutely fawning over their amazing strawberry lavender jam, which I purchased thinking it would make a great gift but couldn’t help slathering on my morning toast this morning. Ah, well. Veteran winner Briar Rose Creamery once again rose to the top with their irresistible Butter Baby, a soft, bloomy rind Guernsey cow milk cheese. Butter Baby is a personal-sized version of their also award-winning Butterbloom, which I included in an indulgent Briar Rose Creamery-focused tasting this past summer. (And now I’m wondering how IT would taste slathered in strawberry lavender jam!)
Oregon also made a fine showing in the chocolate category, with Portland’s Only Child Chocolate Company winning for their delicious Cashew Later bar – a dark chocolate bar filled with a milk chocolate and turmeric filling. If you’ve not tried their bars, I highly recommend it. Seahorse Chocolate out of Bend received awards for both their Dark Milk 65% and Left of Dial Blend, a lovely, fruity 78% bar they describe as custard pie, sweet cherry and lemon zest, and as being inspired by “musical obscurity found only in the search for hidden gems lost in record crates forgotten in the basement”. That’s pretty specific! I tried it over the weekend, and I’m not sure I picked up on the musical obscurity, but the flavors absolutely blew my mind.
And finally, although I’m focusing on Oregon brands, I do want to give a shoutout to Brooklyn Cured from New York. Brooklyn Cured makes mouth-meltingly delicious charcuterie from pastured-raised meats using no antibiotics and has received kudos from everyone from Bon Appetit to Martha Stewart. Things were temporarily looking perilous when Marketing Manager, Katie Milani arrived in Portland for the weekend’s festivities only to discover that the product she planned to sample and sell hadn’t arrived and could not definitively be tracked. Katie was forced to run around to local purveyors to try and procure enough product for Saturday’s Mercantile and Marketplace events. Happily, the excellent team at Zupan’s on West Burnside sprang into action and was helpful and amazing – Zupan’s exactly. As what I’m certain was no small consolation, Brooklyn Cured walked away with awards for their Tuscan Red Wine Beef Salami and Pork Salami with Black Truffles. I love a happy ending! Assuming Katie didn’t clean them out entirely, you can find their products at Zupan’s.
Congratulations to all of the 2024 Good Food Award recipients and thank you for making the world a better and more delicious place!