Last October, Beavercreek farmer Evan Gregoire traveled to Italy as one of 10 Oregon delegates to attend Terra Madre, a bi-annual gathering created by Slow Food in part to celebrate the Slow Food ideals of eating food that is good, clean and fair. (Full disclosure: I was also sent as a delegate, and met Gregoire at his farm Boondockers before we departed.)
While in Italy, he spent time both before and after the festival meeting farmers, touring seed banks and visiting farms, gathering as much seed as he could to bring back to Oregon. One growing season later and Gregoire’s got a ton of gorgeous tomatoes, melons, basil, squash and more, grown at his farm from Italian seeds.
What happened Monday afternoon, September 21 at Ravenna was the first in a series that he’s calling “Pomodori: A Celebration and Preservation of Heirloom Vegetable Varieties From Italy.”
Also on the calendar is a tasting brunch at Pream on Sunday, October 4 and a series of dinners: one at the farm with Nomad PDX on October 18, a second at Red Ridge Winery with Let Um Eat on October 30 and a third at Din Din with Seedhouse in the City on November 14. (Get the details for all these events HERE.)
However, this event at Ravenna was more of a tasting to give Gregoire an idea of what’s working and what’s not in terms of all these varieties. Tables were organized with dozens of tomatoes in different preparations; passata, paste, fresh, roasted, dried and thick sauces all portioned out into tiny tasting cups.
We were invited to sip and rate our favorites, calling out any tasting notes we adored or simply didn’t like. There might have been a little eye rolling at this point—tomato, tomahto right? But I’m not shitting you when I say that every.single.tomato tasted different. Some were sweet, some were meaty, some were earthy or fruity, some were watery or mealy—but each one was unique.
And isn’t this what we want from our food? Not to be over the top sentimental, but life is so much more than hot pink tomatoes in January, trucked in from Mexico.
It’s clear Gregoire is passionate—even a little goofy when it comes to these tomatoes, and that’s cool. Because if some of these varieties can continue to be grown and get into the capable hands of Portland-area chefs (Nostrana’s Cathy Whims was spotted sipping a few cups) we’ll all benefit. To steal half a line from that turd of a pizza mogul Papa John; better ingredients, better everything.
True, price tags on the dinners can be a bit steep ($100-$125), but the brunch is a mere $30, and who hasn’t spent that on sub-par eggs at some point in this city? If you can’t make it at all, check out Boondockers at one of the numerous farmers markets they attend or visit the farm—there’s more than enough tomatoes to go around.
