This month, we're all about forging connections through hidden talents.

Perhaps you're launching a new service for restaurateurs and need beta testers. Maybe you're looking to bring your talents to the foodtech industry or seeking a co-founder for a revolutionary urban farming concept. Or, you simply want to get to know this growing foodtech community.

Bring your ideas, latest projects, and hairy questions to our next community gathering that'll feature a fun event to make new connections while unearthing your hidden talents.

Our Sponsors:
- CrowdCompass creates mobile apps for conferences, tradeshows, meetings and events that range in size from 50 to 50,000 attendees.
- Spork is a catering concierge service designed to deliver a quality dining experience enriched with local variety.
- Khao San serves up Thai street food and desserts

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.

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.