Bite Of Oregon

I went to Portland's 'Oregon Bite' food fest Sunday. Given the lower quality of food in Oregon as compared to New Orleans, and the fact that New Orleans has many food fest related events, I decided to check this one here to compare and contrast it to those in New Orleans. Finding food of top quality here is a mission often ending in futility. Oregon has great basic fruit and vegetable products, more than adequate seafood and meat, and excellent bakers (the one aspect of food here I find good) but the preparation phase of most food here is of lower quality. As I have remarked before, I think that in Portland there is little passion for good tasting food and great passion for huge portions of what is eaten.

The Oregon Bite event has been growing here year by year and is a part of what I am told is a multi year quest to upgrade food demands by the residents of Portland in an attempt to upgrade the quality of food being served in Portland restaurants. In general, it's an attempt of the city of Portland to move from a city of fast and chain restaurant food to one of fine dining. I have been told that progress is being made, as for example, in the number of high quality "food truck" that line some streets in Portland.

Those trucks serve lunch food of very good taste each weekday. the idea is that foreign and out of state restaurateurs of high skill, but who can not afford the cost of starting a restaurant in a Portland building, first vend via trucks to earn money to purchase or rent a fixed site and build a reputation. I have eaten at a few of the trucks and think they are clearly serving the best food in Portland. This should heighten demand for better food in restaurants here.

I also have read often in the local Portland newspaper, The Oregonian, articles praising chefs here, promoting recipes and in general sending a message that Portland wants to be more like San Francisco. That is, it wants to build a reputation as a food mecca city. Since perception is a big part of reality, it is a nice attempt to make. And how was that campaign promoted at 'Oregon Bite' this year? Well, in my view not so well.

I walked the grounds of the event, which was nicely laid among shade bearing trees out along the pretty Willamette river front in Portland. What I saw though was more of a wine and beer event than a food one. How typical! Portland has a well deserved reputation as a city of great breweries and wine making. Portland itself has more breweries per capita than any city in the U.S., too many to even count. As for wine, the valley adjacent to Portland is a prime grape growing one and holds many wine making companies that sell here and elsewhere an exceedingly good quality wine.

It seemed there were as many wine and beer vendors as food vendors at the Bite. But why? The area already has the fine wine and beer industry, but a lower quality of restaurants. Walking and sampling some items from the food sellers at the Bite confirmed my disappointment in the food there. I had to look intently to find food of any appeal. Unlike in New Orleans, where a food fest is an endless array of food from many great restaurants, there were too few vendors and too few quality servers at this Oregon Bite Fest. I saw one cooking demo, and that was of a dish requiring only elementary skill. The four dishes I tasted were all below average in my opinion, yet remarks that I overheard from the patrons tasting them seemed to be that of total satisfaction. It does not follow....unless the people here have a low food IQ.

It will be a long battle to upgrade the food of Portland, primarily because the people here have little passion for good food but great passion for volumes of mediocre food (buffets, chain restaurants and fast food are what is prominent here). But with the high quality of food ingredients available in Portland and the desire of leaders in Portland to upgrade the food here, I think the attitude of the citizens will change gradually to one in which the residents demand better things to eat. Until then, I will simply have to use my pots and pans at home myself more that I want to cook with them