Wasted food comes at an enormous financial and environmental cost. In the US, food is the largest single source of waste.

• 40% of all food never makes it to the table. That's about 20 lbs per person per month at a cost of $165 billion each year.
• 30% of all food, worth $48 billion, is thrown away annually.
• Food production accounts for approx. 16% of energy use, 50% of land, and 80% of freshwater consumed.

We're bringing together local experts to discuss how they are fighting wasted food by working with farmers, distributors, and foodservice providers. Learn about the creativity, complexity, and technology involved in their solutions as well as opportunities to continue to address waste in our food systems.

Panelists:

• Claire Cummings is the Waste Guru at Bon Appétit Management Co which provides full-service restaurant management and operates over 650 cafes. Claire manages the Imperfectly Delicious Produce program which works with farmers, distributors, and chefs to save cosmetically challenged produce from going to waste.
• Brennan Hogan is a Marketing Manager at LeanPath which provides automated food waste prevention solutions for operators of all sizes. LeanPath was founded in 2004 by a team of Portland-based entrepreneurs and enables clients to cut kitchen food waste by 50% or more and up to 6% on food costs.

Schedule:
6:30 Doors open
6:45 Event begins
8:00 Breakout discussions
8:30 Conversations & mingling

Our Host:
Quick Left builds web & mobile applications for companies that want to accelerate & elevate their dev teams.

Bites & Bevs Provided by:
- Spork is a catering concierge service designed to deliver a quality dining experience enriched with local variety.
- Tamale Boy serves casual Mexican street food using local, seasonal Northwest produce and meats from its food truck and restaurant located at 1764 NE Dekum St.
-Base Camp Brewing Company crafts beer with an eye toward innovation and creativity as well as consistency and balance and can be had at its Taproom, 930 SE Oak St.

Calling All Adventurous Eaters and Cooks!

Join us for Portland's first ever Cricket Cook-Off on Wednesday, December 9th.
We invite you to show off your talents and palates using crickets.
That's right. The kind that chirp.

Adventurous Cooks: We welcome cooks of all experience levels to design new dishes or recreate your favorite recipes using crickets. We provide the crickets, you provide the goodies. Did we mention there will be prizes?! Sign up by Mon, Nov 23.

Adventurous Eaters: Where else will you get to sample such an amazing array of cricket goodies? You'll also have the great honor of selecting the People's Choice Award for your favorite bite of the night. Tickets are $5 and must be purchased in advance.

Competition Sign-up: Sign up by Mon, Nov 23 at http://bit.ly/1QqG2t7.

Tickets: Free to compete and $5 to eat. Tickets available at Brown Paper Tickets.

Full details about the Cook-Off available at www.foodbytespdx.com.

Did you know that Oregon is home to 3 cricket protein companies? That's right. We are lucky to have 3 startups fueling the emerging industry of using bug protein as a nourishing and sustainable protein source for people and pets. If you came to our sold-out Cricket Cook-Off last month, you'll know that crickets are super tasty, versatile, and highly sustainable.

Join us during Portland Startup Week for a conversation with your local cricket farmer and cricket flour providers. Learn why crickets might just become Oregon's newest industry. We'll also have some tasty cricket snacks for you to sample.

Cricket companies:
* Poda Foods, a cricket farm launching in 2016 and winner of PDC’s 2015 Startup PDX Challenge
* Thinksect, producer of finely ground cricket flour and graduate of PCC’s Recipe to Market Program
* Cricket Flours, producer of 100% cricket flour, flavored cricket powders, and cricket instant oatmeal

RSVP at http://www.meetup.com/FoodBytes/events/228287456/

The majority of companies in the food space set out to answer one simple question: how can we feed consumers better, faster, and healthier? However, often overlooked are the workers and producers that make our food system run.

Learn why building a mission-driven organization that values and empowers its workers can be critical for your impact on the world as well as the sustainability of your business.

Join Jason Skipton from Growing Gardens, Julia Niiro from Let Um Eat, and Charley Wang from Josephine for a night of civic discourse, community discussion and, of course, food.