Counting Down to Feast Portland: Best Butcher Contest & Fishmonger Face Off

This post is part of my series “Counting Down to Feast Portland” where I talk about events I plan to attend as part of this 4 day food and drink festival September 19-22, 2013. The goal of Feast Portland is to raise money for two Portland charity partners focused on fighting hunger: Share Our Strength and Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. Disclaimer: I was granted a Bloggers Pass for Feast Portland 2013, and asked to help promote Feast but they did not require that I write this post and I am not otherwise being compensated.

Update – After attending the event, you can see my recap here

Previously: I highlighted the Oregon Bounty Grand Tasting food festival scheduled for Sept 20 and 21 and also wrote of my excitement for the Sandwich Invitational on Sept 19 and then had to go get a sandwich to recover after writing that post.

The previous two events I highlighted might have a ticket price (and remember, they are trying to raise money for charity after all), but not every Feast event does. One of the new events this year for Feast is the Whole Foods Market Best Butcher Contest & Fishmonger Face Off. This is a FREE event! The event takes place as part of Feast Portland on Saturday, Sept 21st 11:00am – 2:00pm at Director Park. There will be surf and turf samples provided by Whole Foods Market’s meat and seafood partners, so don’t worry about watching all that deliciousness and only wondering conceptually about the product.

The Best Butcher Contest & Fishmonger Face Off are two branches of regional competitions by Whole Foods Market that are held all over the country. Last year, the Best Butcher contest included whittling down 300 butchers to just 3 (representing the west, central, and east regions of the US) that made it to New York City to be crowned at the the 2nd annual Best Butcher competition at Meatopia. Tasks they had to rise to for the competition included crafting a turducken (duck stuffed inside a chicken stuffed inside a turkey), merchandising a whole lamb, and creating a new cut of beef steak, chop or roast! Best Butcher 2012 Armand ”The Arm” Ferrante will be defending his title. You can read more about Best Butcher Contest 2012 here at the Whole Foods Blog.

Meanwhile, the 1st annual Fishmonger Faceoff of 2012 ended with the Golden Trident being awarded at Food & Wine Classic Aspen, as you can read here about the Fishmonger Face Off at the Whole Foods Blog. Fishmonger Winner Bob “The Fish Guy” Reany had to cut and fillet a certified Wild Alaska Salmon in 3 minutes- and he did it in 90 seconds! Both winners of the Best Butcher and Fishmonger Faceoff had about 40 years of experience each- we’re talking about masters of meat or fish! Check out the awesome nicknames of the fishmongers who competed last year in this 1 minute video of the 2012 finalists- will we be seeing some of them this year?

This year, the final for the Best Butcher Contest & Fishmonger Face Off are BOTH coming to Feast and Portland! It’s serious technique required to know where to cut and to cut quickly, but they also will be judged on “swagger” in knife skills. It should be exciting to watch them throw in showmanship while working with the blade and with still an eye on quality of cuts and quantity of yield of product!

Who knows… is one of the butchers and fishmongers we see at this event going to be one from your neighborhood Whole Foods and providing you with the finest cuts of meat and fish?

Butchery and Fishmongering is an art that seemed like it was being lost for a while into uniform piles of plastic wrapped hunks of meat in a cooler, but thankfully it has been making a comeback. People are returning to wanting to appreciate where the food comes from, and use all of the animal, which is evidenced by the rise of butchery classes in the past year in Portland. So it seems like the perfect place to hold these Best Butcher Contest & Fishmonger Face Off finals.

Above: Photos from last year’s Feast PDX Basic Pig Butchery class with Portland Meat Collective’s Camas Davis. This class is back this year but already sold out! Photo Credit: Feast Portland All rights reserved by Feast Portland

Description from the Feast website: After months of regional competitions at Whole Foods Market stores across the country, 12 butchers and fishmonger finalists are sharpening their knives to go head-to-tail for the glory of being named best in their craft. Come watch the sparks fly as the butcher and fishmonger finalists battle their way to the top. Finalists will be judged by an expert panel that includes top chefs and media on presentation, craftsmanship and swagger in dazzling demos of knife work. Sample some surf-and-turf from Whole Foods Market’s meat and seafood partners, pause for some live music, snap a picture in the photo booth, and even learn a thing or two about high-quality meat and sustainable seafood.

Photo Credit: Feast Portland All rights reserved by Feast Portland

Disclosure: I was granted a Bloggers Pass for Feast Portland 2013, and asked to help promote Feast but they did not require that I write this post and I am not otherwise being compensated. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own, and I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences regardless of whether they were complimentary or not.