The Tasty Thread from New Seasons Market

Since 2013, the New Seasons Market Partner Brand has collaborated with local vendors to bring you hundreds of delicious products, while also supporting our regional food economy. And unlike traditional private label programs, they want you to know who makes the products! So much so, that it’s right on the front of every package. Think of it as ‘private label’ with a purpose.

In this episode, we'll chat with a longtime Partner Brand chip and tortilla producer Don Pancho Mexican Foods and hear about their new Mac and Cheese collaboration with Rallenti Pasta.

Plus, we'll meet Elsy Dinvil of Creole Me Up, a recipient of the New Seasons Partner Fund, a micro-loan program that supports small Pacific Northwest food makers.

For the last four months, people around the country have seen their lives change during the global pandemic. With national supply chain disruptions and the breakdown in parts of the food system, New Seasons Market quickly realized how crucial their support would be in uplifting the food economy in Portland. 

In this episode, we’re highlighting three Portland vendors who've had to transition their business in the wake of the pandemic. From a new relationship created with the iconic Portland restaurant Renata, to Straightaway Cocktails making their own hand sanitizer. Even their Partner Brand pasta maker Rallenti upped their game to help keep the shelves stocked. 

All three have unique stories to share about how their businesses have changed and how New Seasons Market helped play a part. 

More than 65 years ago, a sweet and jam-like strawberry was bred at Oregon State University. Their deep red color and high sugar content made them perfect for food producers, but being highly perishable, other varieties soon replaced them. And that could have been the end of the story for the Hood Strawberry. That is, if it weren't for Unger Farms. Now iconic in the Pacific Northwest, Kathy Unger joins us on this episode of The Tasty Thread to talk Hood history, the three-week growing season, and where to get your hands on some of your own. (HINT: It's New Seasons Market!)

After being in the biz for 40 years, Jeff Fairchild knows a thing or two about delicious Pacific Northwest produce. As the Produce Buyer at New Seasons Market, and employee number 12, Fairchild is the perfect guide for our very first episode of The Tasty Thread. He'll walk us through Willamette Valley berries, Northwest cherries, and explain what makes the food grown in Oregon and Washington "as good as it gets".

Welcome to The Tasty Thread, a podcast from New Seasons Market. This season we'll meet Oregon farmers, chat with food producers from the Pacific Northwest, and explore all the ways we each play a part in our local food economy. Stay hungry and we'll talk to you soon!