Hello from Turin, Italy
Updates, ramblings, and words of gratitude.
Good morning from Italy!
It’s actually the middle of the day here, but still morning for most of my readers on Substack. I’ve been traveling for the last couple of weeks, which explains my absence on this platform. I have three longer-form pieces in the works that I’ll be sharing throughout October, but today I just wanted to check in—it’s been nearly three weeks since my last post.
First, I want to thank all of you for reading and subscribing.
I launched this Substack four months ago because I enjoy writing; it helps me organize my thoughts. I suppose I could just keep a journal, but I know myself well enough to realize that having an audience keeps me accountable to write more consistently—which, for the most part, I’ve managed to do. So thank you for being that audience, and an extra thanks to those of you who’ve become paid subscribers. While I didn’t and still don’t expect to break any records, I’m excited to have reached 400 subscribers this week, and a few of my posts have even garnered a few thousand views—much to my surprise and delight. I have also enjoyed your comments, notes, replies, and likes. Thank you.
It’s also an honor to discover that many of my readers are increasingly political, business, and cultural leaders from Portland, as well as my peers in the food community across the country and around the world. So while my audience is small but growing, I’ve found this platform to be a meaningful way to connect and contribute, with much more nuance than social media allows. If any of you have considered starting a Substack, I highly encourage you to do so—especially if you’re looking for a way to express yourself with more depth and complexity than you’ll find on Instagram.
Do it.
What have I been up to?
Last Sunday, I arrived in Italy to attend Terra Madre, a massive international food event held every two years in Turin, the capital of Piedmont. Piedmont is known for Fiat, agnolotti, vitello tonnato, and is the European capital of hazelnut production—home to some varieties of hazelnuts also grown in Oregon, the North American hazelnut capital. (If you grew up in Oregon, you knew them as filberts, which is a name that was ripe for a rebrand).
Piedmont shares much in common with Oregon—similar climate, geography, agriculture, and even population size. It’s also the home of the Slow Food movement, which started in the 1980s and remains deeply embedded in Italy’s culinary and political identity. Slow Food produces Terra Madre, which draws around 350,000 attendees over five days. In terms of scale, I haven’t seen anything like it, and it may be the most joyful food event I’ve ever attended.
Slow Food is an international organization, but it’s more especially relevant in Italy today than other places. As I was told multiple times this week, Portland has a deep connection to Slow Food, as I learned that Don Oman (of Casa Bruno wines) and Peter DeGarmo (founder of Pastaworks/Providore) were instrumental in bringing the movement to the United States, alongside Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley. This makes sense to those who pay attention to such things. Oregon, after all, wrote the blueprint for what became the national organic movement and gave the world the one and only James Beard. It’s also a values-driven kind of place—like Piedmont. Did you know that while Oregon only produces one percent of American wine, it’s responsible for more than half of our county’s organic and biodynamic wine? I learned that in Ray Isle’s latest book The World in a Wineglass, which incidentally devotes three times the space to Oregon wines than their Washington counterparts.
But who’s counting?
Like Piedmont, Oregon punches far above its weight in the culinary world. And also like Piedmont, Oregon is one of those places where the food and farm-obsessed feel at home. In that sense, there actually aren’t that many places like Oregon in the world.
Catch me at the ELEVATE 2024 Portland conference
Today I’m heading to London for two rainy days before catching the direct flight back to PDX on British Airways—the flight that has made London my gateway to Europe since its pre-COVID debut. Before BA Flight 267, I had never been to London, and now, I stay at least one night on my way to or back from my European work trips. This time, I have no set plans in London—just a chance to explore the city at my own pace while I finalize my presentation for next week's Urban Land Institute Portland conference on October 8th. As one of the featured speakers, I'll be discussing how Portland's unique culture and economy should (and shouldn’t) intersect with our built environment and the future of the city. There are other speakers as well, including Randy Miller, who is one of my collaborators of Reimagine Portland. If that interests you, I encourage you to sign up.
That’s all for now. In the next couple of weeks I’ll be weighing in on a few subjects, including a music venue green-lit by Portland City Council (and why I enthusiastically support it), and some more elaborate reflections on my trip to Italy.
Until then….