Portland Chefs Collaborative

Hello Portland Chefs Collaborative folks, hope you are having a wonderful summer!  Can you join us for a PCC gathering in just over a week on Sunday July 25th?  We have a wonderful opportunity to hold a meeting at Luscher Farm in Lake Oswego (thanks, Laura), AND to have the author Temra Costas as a guest speaker.  She just published the book Farmer Jane, profiling women in the local food movement, and has offered to speak to us and sign books.

Yes, it’s last minute notice.  Yes, it’s the middle of summer, busy farming & wedding season, right when people are taking vacations.  But we’d love it if you can make the event and help us plan the rest of 2010.  Portland Chefs Collaborative is looking to set up a planning committee with great ideas on how to engage chefs and others in the local, sustainable food scene around Portland in meetings and events that are educational and entertaining, and that involve some great food.  Farmers, food buyers, food lovers, bakers, ranchers, fishers, caterers, processors, and of course chefs are all welcome.  Please bring a picnic lunch and friends/family.

What: July PCC Meeting & Picnic, with Guest Speaker Temra Costa
Where: Luscher Farm, Lake Oswego (map)
When: 7/25, Noon-2pm
How: please carpool, there is limited parking
Who: Temra Costa is author of Farmer Jane; PCC meeting run by Sarah Curtis-Fowler of Pacific Pie Company and David Yudkin of HotLips Pizza
Picnic! Bring everything you need to set up a picnic while listening to Temra, including a blanket and/or chairs and drinks.  If you want to bring extra to share, we’ll set up  a table for extra bounty.

RSVP - it would be great if you could drop us a line and let us know that you can join us, just so that we have a general idea of numbers. It’s not necessary, though, if you forget to email, you should still come!

Want to stay in touch with the latest PCC updates?  There are several ways to do so.
There is a PCC Google Groups listserv where folks can post information they think PCC members and supporters would be interested in, or ask questions of the PCC community.  There is also the PCC e-News announcement list strictly used for PCC event announcements and invitations.
PCC Google Group>>
PCC Announcement List>>

Questions?  Just email portlandchefscollaborative@gmail.com.

A local food writer describes her experience at FCC in her blog here.  Warning, her food photography from the breakfast, lunch, and dessert spread is enough to make you very hungry…

There is a great story about Grand Central Baking in this month’s Edible Portland that highlights the Farmer-Chef Connection and how Piper and her crew at the bakery have utilized local sourcing and our networking event to maker her bakery the local buying force that it is today.  You can pick up a copy around town for free, or you can read about it online (page 38) here.

Erin Meeker is the chef at Sassafras Catering, and she wrote this about her experiences at the Farmer Chef Connection:

On Monday I had the great pleasure of attending the Farmer/Chef connection for the first time. To say that I had a fantastic time would be an understatement.  Anne Berblinger had asked me to sit on one of her discussion panels for Farmer/Chef 101 and although I was a bit nervous about being on a panel for the first time, I ended up learning so much about how farmers decide what to grow each year and then how to price it that I wish the class had gone on all afternoon. It was nice that I was able to discuss the ordering needs of a caterer as we are generally planning our menus months in advance so instead of being able to use whatever is fresh at the time, I have to consult planned grow lists from farmers and build my menus around what they project will be ready. It’s a great game of produce roulette.
The other amazing aspect to the day was the personal access to so many farmers. Sassafras produces a line of artisan preserved goods, and we have been having a difficult time sourcing a few of our ingredients directly from Oregon, particularly watermelons.  On Sunday, I was able to talk to at least a dozen farmers and quite a few expressed interest in growing heirloom watermelons for us this summer. I am so excited about the idea of pickling watermelons that have interesting skin patterns or purple flesh to add a new color palette in our jars!
When you add the amazing lunch and delicious teas, coffees, and pastries into the whole mix, I can’t imagine a better day for a food geek like myself. The hardest part about this whole experience is that now I have to wait 364 days to attend the next one!

If you attended the Farmer-Chef Connection and would like to write about an aspect of your day, email us.

Thanks to everyone for a successful Farmer-Chef Connection 2010.  Keep checking back here for posts about the event, more details about the workshops, and the next fun thing that the Portland Chefs Collaborative is going to tackle!  Make sure that you sign up for our e-newsletter here to be kept informed.

Wow, thanks to the hard work of Farmer-Chef Connection volunteers (especially Ericka Carlson!), and the generosity of many, many people, there are some wonderful raffle items that you’ll have a chance of winning just by registering and attending FCC 2010!  Check out the list here!

This is an interesting look at several ways businesses across the country have solved some of the sourcing and distribution barriers, on The National Good Food Network.

Author Nicolette Hahn Niman is an author, attorney, livestock rancher, and until recently, sat on the Board of Overseers for the National Chefs Collaborative.  Her book, Righteous Porkchop, details her experiences working first with Bobby Kennedy and the Waterkeepers Alliance investigating industrialized hog farms in North Carolina.  In learning about hog farming and the problems with factory farms, she also met and learned from some of the best family and traditional farmers who treat their animals humanely and direct market their meat, and her book explains cost-effective methods these operations have incorporated to make a profit by ethical, sustainable means.  Nicolette also explains for the reader not only why choosing humanely raised meat, poultry, dairy, eggs, and fish is important, but also HOW to do it. Nicolette is married to Bill Niman, founder of Niman Ranch, with whom she shares a passion for raising animals humanely.  More information about the author and the book can be found on her web page at www.righteousporkchop.com.