The Good Food Awards Make History in Portland

The Good Food Mercantile’s public event on Sunday, April 28 from 4 pm to 6 pm at the Oregon Convention Center is a great opportunity for Edible readers to experience the Good Food community. For the first time in its history, Good Food Mercantile will open its doors to the public at the Portland event, giving food enthusiasts the opportunity to taste and purchase high-quality, craft foods and engage directly with makers from across the country—as well as more than 50 makers from Oregon and Washington (see opposite page). Tickets are for $15 per person and include a $5 credit towards food purchases on-site. It’s going to be an awesome event at the Oregon Convention Center.

THE HISTORY/PROBLEMATIC SITUATION

By 2010, Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma had cast serious doubt about blindly purchasing whatever was on grocery shelves and mentions of “Slow Food” no longer elicited quizzical looks and questions about crock-pots. A widespread awareness that something in our food system was seriously broken had taken hold, yet organic sales made up less than 8% of food purchases in the US – to say nothing of supporting food and drink crafters that paid a living wage and truly fair prices to the farmers growing their ingredients. While Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation convinced many to skip the drive thru lines and seek more sustainable options when eating out, the 51% of food budgets Americans spent to eat in – buying ingredients at the grocery stores – remained a puzzle. Certifications like fair trade and rainforest alliance indicated farmers were paid as little as 15% above commodity pricing, and said nothing about taste. A SOFI Award indicated something tasted good, but said nothing about the growing practices or social values that went into it. Nothing existed to let conscientious eaters know they had found something that embodied all the values they care about: delicious, sustainable and socially responsible.

THE BEGINNING OF THE GOOD FOOD MOVEMENT

Around this time, an idealistic event producer named Dominic Phillips approached a young activist named Sarah Weiner whose worldview had been forged working with Carlo Petrini at Slow Food’s headquarters in Italy, Alice Waters in Berkeley, and Patrick Holden, the founder of the United Kingdom’s largest organic certification body, the Soil Association. With an offer of space in his San Francisco office and his event production savvy, Dominic suggested they start a non-profit to bring projects to life that brought about change to the food system through celebration and gathering, rather than confrontation and struggle. With Dominic’s unwavering confidence and his offer of a $50,000, no term loan, the 28-year-old Sarah moved across the ocean, hiring interns and rallying the troops (while couch surfing for two years) and took a chance on bringing projects to life that could shift status and wealth to the people making a better world through food. Hence, the Good Food Awards and many other projects of the Good Food Foundation were born.

THE GOOD FOOD FOUNDATION TODAY

Today, nearly 1,200 food and drink crafters in 18 categories are proud Good Food Award Winners. In grocery stores in every state, eaters can look for the little blue winners seal to know they have found something sustainable, socially responsible, and extremely delicious. And they are: the Good Food Awards has shifted over $200 million dollars from the industrial food system to sustainable and socially just (not to mention delicious!) alternatives. Three Good Food Mercantiles a year—in San Francisco, Portland, and New York City— offer food crafters doing everything right the opportunity to connect with grocers who share their values; and the Good Food Guild trade association unites 600 makers across the country.