Feast: Oregon Bounty Grand Tasting

Early autumn is one of my favorite times of the year. I love reaching for a sweater when the leaves start to fall and West Coast foliage explodes with the colors of aspen, maple, oak and more. Once the August heat lightens up, it’s the perfect time to hop in the car from Seattle and drive down to one of our favorite American fall food festivals– FEAST.
This rustic food festival is just as laid back as it is utterly scrumptious. You’ll find a smörgåsbord of yummy eats from a range of more than 80 Oregon chefs, 38 wineries, 18 breweries, and 20 artisanal food producers. It’s rather hard not to roll out of this event, but I must say, this one is worth your pants feeling a little tighter! If you don’t want to take my word for it go find it for yourself. This year day of feasting cost $ 95 per ticket.

I attended in 2013 and had a blast. The food is redonkulous and it raises a lot of money for charities fighting child hunger in the Portland area. I am making the long trek to Feast Portland again in 2014 and I’m counting down the days.

A well done… if not slightly crammed into Pioneer Square… first and foremost it was great to connect with new Unilocal friends and share in the indulgence.
A top notch event with a great sampling of the best of artisans breweries and wineries …
We were slightly strategic in our approach… with 2 distinct «passes» sandwiched in between a glass of wine under cover whilst waiting for the rain to let up…
Where do I begin? Well sampling can be misleading… since I sampled. everything …twice…I was surprised I just didn’t lay down in my car and sleep off the food coma.
Some of my favorites?
Portland Pie… it was pointed out it’s close to my hood… the savory meat and stout pie was awesome
Jacobsen salt? …Im now salting everything… morning espresso, my morning vitamins, bananas… hell I’m hooked on Jaocobens…
Tabor Bread was another standout. I’m not sure how many cookies I ate… I really should have been flagged for excessive cookie consumption.
And the simple pleasure of a Tillamook grilled cheese…
No complaints other than the number of sweet treat artisans were overwhelming.
The breweries that participated were all great and gave generous pours. my favorite is Base Camp… I had previously met the brewmaster — and he and the base camp crew are craft brew ballers.
I participated less in the wine samplings .the domaine serene winery was a standout.
The surprise .for me was I was actually entertained watching the Kitchen Aid sponsored stage demos… Naomi Pomeroy from Beast honestly could have her own syndicated David Letterman like TV affair… wildly funny… and Chris Cosentino from Incanto is a dude you want to have a beer with… relaxed, earnest and cool.
Overall a fun event… new friends and 3000 calories happier.

Portland now has a première, nationally recognized food festival and it is called FEAST.
The Oregon Grand Bounty tasting admission is $ 60 for one day and $ 100 for entry for both days. I was lucky enough to get a Living Social special for 2 day VIP pass for $ 100 that included early entry and a shwag bag.
I have to recommend the 2 day pass. 1 day is not enough. There are so many fabulous Oregon food and drink vendors to try. I’d say 60% of the booths were fabulous Oregon beer and wine. You could try to take it all in one day, but then you would be super stuffed and miss out on the exciting cooking demos.
Feast attracted some the biggest names in the cooking world for the Grand Bounty cooking demos. We were educated and entertained by 2012 Top Chef Winner Paul Qui, 2012 Top Chef Master winner Chris Cosentino, Food Network celeb Amanda Frietag and Portland royalty, Naomi Pomeroy. Each celebrity chef was friendly and made them selves available for a quick question, picture, and autograph. I am a home cook and food geek .l absolutely loved watching Master’s of their craft teaching me new techniques. After the weekend, I went home and confidently made chawanmushi (steamed japanese egg custard) that was taught by Paul Qui.
Don’t confuse this with the other Main Even Feast festivities. The other main events like the High Comfort, Night Market, and Sandwich Invitational feature dishes prepared by local and nationally famous chefs. The Oregon Grand Bounty Tasting spotlights Oregon purveyors of fine food and drink. If you want celebrity chef food then look into those other main events. Oregon is the celebrity here.
The organization of Feast was awesome. They had an armada of volunteers keeping the place nice and tidy and eager to help visitor navigate their way through the Grand Bounty.
By getting a 2 day pass you can leisurely try all the great food and drink and still catch all the cooking demos. It is an Oregon foodie paradise worth every penny.