TASTE for Equity

Jewan is joining us May 28! One of Portland’s leading vegan chefs, Jewan has been making waves ever since he started cooking as in 2018 🌿 As a high-profile Black chef in Portland’s thriving vegan food scene, Jewan is devoted to using food as a way to express his own legacy.

Join us May 28th as we gather for an immersive evening where food, music, and storytelling come together in real time.

In partnership with , the night unfolds through four chapters—curiosity, connection, transformation, and home.

May 28 | 6–10 PM
📍 Blockhouse, NW Portland

Tickets just sold out, but you can join the Alchemy waitlist ➡️ Link is in bio!

📸 Photo credit

Chef Elsy of grew up cooking alongside her mother in Jérémie, Haiti, making epis-spiced meatballs, pikliz, and waking up early to pound spices 🌶️  However, when she moved to Oregon in the 1990s, she began a battle with gastrointestinal disease that pushed her toward her focus on clean food.

Join us May 28th as we gather for an immersive evening where food, music, and storytelling come together in real time.

In partnership with , the night unfolds through four chapters—curiosity, connection, transformation, and home.

Tickets just sold out, but you can join the Alchemy waitlist ➡️ Link is in bio!

May 28 | 6–10 PM
📍 Blockhouse, NW Portland

Winemaker Tiquette Bramlett became the first Black woman to lead a U.S. winery in 2021 and was named VP of Chosen Family Wines in 2023 🍷 (shoutout to previous TASTE winemaker, Channing Frye!) Originally pursuing music, her path shifted after a thyroid cancer diagnosis, leading her to discover winemaking and its roots in community. After moving to Oregon and working as a sommelier, she launched featuring Willamette Valley wines in chic cans with music-inspired notes—while also founding Our Legacy Harvested to expand access, education, and opportunity within the wine industry.

Join us May 28th as we gather for an immersive evening where food, music, and storytelling come together in real time.

In partnership with , the night unfolds through four chapters—curiosity, connection, transformation, and home.

May 28 | 6–10 PM
📍 Blockhouse, NW Portland

Tckets just sold out, but you can join the Alchemy waitlist ➡️ Link is in bio!

One of Portland’s leading vegan chefs, Jewan has been making waves ever since he started cooking as in 2018 🌿 As a high-profile Black chef in Portland’s thriving vegan food scene, Jewan is devoted to using food as a way to express his own legacy.

Join us May 28th as we gather for an immersive evening where food, music, and storytelling come together in real time.

In partnership with , the night unfolds through four chapters—curiosity, connection, transformation, and home.

Tckets just sold out, but you can join the Alchemy waitlist ➡️ Link is in bio!

May 28 | 6–10 PM
📍 Blockhouse, NW Portland

TASTE for Equity and ELSO share a belief that equity is not a statement — it is a practice. It shows up in who you resource, whose ideas you amplify, and where your dollars land when the evening is over.

We are proud to present Alchemy in partnership with ELSO, and we hope you’ll join us on May 28th knowing exactly whose future you’re investing in.

Tickets just sold out, but you can join the Alchemy waitlist ➡️ Link is in bio!

We’ve been saving you a seat.

Join us May 28 as we gather for the first event in this year’s series—an immersive evening where food, music, and storytelling come together in real time.

In partnership with , the night unfolds through four chapters—curiosity, connection, transformation, and home.

A multi-course, family-style dinner from Chef Jewan (), Chef Elsy (), and Tiquette Bramlett (), with live music curated by and to carry the room from first bite to last.

If you’ve been before, you know.
If this is your first time—welcome. This table was made for you.

As always, the evening supports organizations serving BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ communities across Portland.

Tickets go live April 3 at 12 PM.
Seats are limited.

May 28 | 6–10 PM
Blockhouse, NW Portland

Something is building.

This year, Taste for Equity becomes a three-part gathering — three evenings rooted in food, culture, and community. Each one with its own energy, its own story, and its own room full of people who believe in what Portland can become.

🌱 May 28 — Alchemy in partnership with
Transformation & Learning

🌿 August — Cultivate in partnership with
Growth & Community

🌺 November — Flourish in partnership with
Culture & Heritage

The format may evolve, but the heart of TASTE remains the same — gathering around the brilliance of BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ chefs, winemakers, artists, and storytellers.

🌱First up: Alchemy on May 28.
An evening where food, wine, music, and science meet.

Ticket details and chef announcements coming soon.

Save the dates.

We’re still here.
And we’re still gathering.

TASTE for Equity continues to create space for culture, care, and community - feeding people, investing in creatives, and showing up even when the work feels heavy.

This year, we’re trying something new.

✨ Three intimate gatherings — Spring, Summer, Fall
✨ Smaller rooms, deeper connection
✨ Continued support for Adelante Mujeres, APANO, and ELSO

And we don’t want to do it alone.

If you’ve ever thought, “I want to help build spaces like this,” this is your moment.

Many hands make light work.
Let’s keep building.

🔗 Volunteer + sponsorship info in bio

If you’re looking for meaningful ways to show someone you’re thinking about them this holiday season, shop small and start with the incredible makers in our TASTE Food + Wine Directory - link in bio!

Take someone to dinner. Pick up a bottle that tells a story. Surprise a friend with treats from the folks who nourished us at this year’s TASTE. Or simply treat yourself — you deserve it 💋

They tried to bury us, but they did not know we were seeds.
And in Kiara’s kitchen, those seeds turn into fire, flavor, and possibility.

Chef Kiara “Kitchen Killa” Hardy does not just cook. She builds worlds. She blends memory with mastery. She lifts ingredients into something bold, soulful, and unforgettable. Every dish carries her story, her discipline, her joy, and the brilliance she brings to Portland’s food scene.

And I get to do what I do best. I lead with equity at the center. I create spaces where Black and brown creativity is honored, paid, and celebrated in full. Spaces where community tastes like home, hope, and the future we deserve.

TASTE for Equity is where our gifts meet. Her genius in the kitchen. My commitment to lifting every voice at the table. Together, we remind Portland what becomes possible when culture, craft, and justice share the same plate.

Tap through to meet the magic.
Tap through to feel the becoming.