Courtney Tait
Courtney Tait is a writer from Victoria, B.C. who lives in Portland. Read More
The Nightwood Society: Portland’s Women-Run Food and Design Collective
This all-women team of Portlanders offers public pop-up dinners, butchery lessons and more.
Courtney Tait
Courtney Tait is a writer from Victoria, B.C. who lives in Portland. Read More
An adventurous culinary hub on Northeast Broadway, The Nightwood Society is an event space and dining hall where one-of-a-kind experiences are created around food. The seating is upholstered in blush velvet, the chandelier is made of flowers and a powerhouse collective of women brings each event to life.
We can be a new vehicle to feed people. We can be this change that we want to see.
Michelle Battista
A Women-Run Collective
Opened in October 2017, The Nightwood is the brainchild of creative consultant Michelle Battista. Wanting to create a physical space for her dual passions of food and design, she started reaching out to likeminded people. “At first it was about, ‘How do I want my life to look?’” she says. “And then I realized I want to be surrounded by women.”
That impulse led to the assemblage of a tribe of female designers, food makers, artists, farmers and other creatives, each contributing their skills in unique ways. Along with Battista (who also owns a creative agency), the day-to-day team includes co-owner and proprietress Kati Reardon, Let Um Eat co-founder Leah Scafe and former Renata chef Sarah Schneider. The full collective is composed of a dozen core members.
As Battista notes, the food industry has often lacked leadership opportunities for women. The Nightwood seeks to change that by serving as a creative incubator for women and providing support for their ideas to flourish. “We’re creating a space for women to grow, learn and develop,” Battista says. “There are all of these new ways to work in food and love food. We can be a new vehicle to feed people. We can be this change that we want to see.”
Events & Classes at The Nightwood
For guests, The Nightwood’s offerings fall into two categories: experience and education. On the experience side, the 3,000-square-foot (280 sq m) venue hosts public and private events, including dinners, pop-up markets and afternoon tea parties. Its first season featured beer-and-seafood event “The Feast of Seven Fishes” with Migration Brewing; fundraiser “PDX Feeds Puerto Rico,” starring Puerto Rican chefs and baristas; a holiday market showcasing the wares of women makers; and the inaugural “Farm 2 Turntable,” a dinner-turned-dance party with beats by DJ Sanju.
At the heart of The Nightwood’s approach is collaboration: Guest chefs and makers can let their visions shine. “We don’t want to impose rigid rules on collaborators,” says Battista. “This is a space where people can come and explore their own creativity.”
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Makers
Portland is a hub for artists, entrepreneurs and creators alike, with community studios, warehouses and makerspaces that let you DIY your way around town.
Arts
Galleries, public art, events and avant-garde institutions fill Portland’s vibrant arts scene.
Food & Drink
Portland is surrounded by fertile farmland and local chefs make the most of the bounty, often letting the week’s farmers’ market hauls dictate their menus.
Camas Davis, founder of the Portland Meat Collective, curates The Nightwood’s evolving series of culinary classes. Instruction in whole-animal butchery is on the roster, as are sessions on fermentation, preservation and inventive ways to use a single ingredient. (Can it be pickled? Can it be confit-ed?)
Though both Davis and Schneider are butchers, the venue is primarily vegetable-focused. Davis, whose culinary ethos was influenced through studying the art of butchery and charcuterie in southwest France, says, “My goal is getting people to rethink the role of meat in their everyday lives, eat better meat, eat less of it and use it as an accent.”
It’s a notion that ties in with The Nightwood’s mission to shake up the status quo. “Why is meat always masculine and vegetables feminine?” muses Battista. “We want to change that perception. When we do meat it’s an accompaniment. It’s beauty on top. The way things are presented — that’s where the magic is.”
The Future of The Nightwood Society
Part of the organization’s focus on vegetables stems from its goal to partner with female food suppliers like Vibrant Valley Farm. Located on Sauvie Island, the farm was founded by Kara Marie Gilbert and Elaine Elizabeth Walker and provides most of The Nightwood’s vegetables and flowers, as well as a peaceful reprieve for the collective’s members. The collaboration also produces other projects: indigo grown on the farm will be used for dyeing aprons, and a “floral tornado” installation is in the works. (And yes, there are plans to offer floral and maker classes at The Nightwood as well.)
With so many different skill sets at play, The Nightwood is able to continually transform, with no real limits on what takes place there. (The collective also curates off-site events.) Installations and artwork by visual artist Jess Ford and floral designs by Rosemary Stafford rotate seasonally. In summer, the patio opens, offering a verdant space Battista envisions becoming “like a greenhouse.”
While The Nightwood’s internal community is made up of women, the external community, Battista emphasizes, is for everyone. “There have been so many people cheering us on every step of the way,” she says. “They can’t wait to keep experiencing these different events because they are all unique. Everyone’s excited to see what happens next.”
To learn more about upcoming events and classes, visit thenightwoodsociety.com.
Female Fronted
Upcoming Food Events
Portland Saturday Market
Open every Saturday and Sunday from March–December, Portland Saturday Market is the largest arts-and-crafts fair in the U.S.
Fete de la Bastille & Waiters Race
EVENT CANCELED. Please visit the event website for current information. The Fete de la Bastille is the West Coast’s largest Bastille Day celebration. The festival is free and open to the public and attracts as many 8,000 participants. A fun tradition during this festival is the Annual Waiters Race. The popular Portland Waiters Race returns…
Portland Flea + Food
EVENT POSTPONED. Please visit the event website for current information. The Portland Flea + Food is a monthly market held on the last Sunday of the month in Portland, Oregon. Every market features 80+ local artists, makers, and curators of the best vintage, handmade and locally-sourced goods in town.
Portland Burger Week
The Portland Mercury’s Burger Week returns every August with dozens of restaurants, bars and brewhouses across Portland offering one-of-a-kind burgers for only $5! These special edition burgers are designed especially for the Mercury’s Portland Burger Week and are only available from Aug. 3-8, 2020, so dig in while you can! Tips for Portland Burger Week:…
Elephant Garlic Festival
EVENT CANCELED. Please visit the event website for current information. The 23rd Annual Elephant Garlic Festival is a three-day festival celebrating, you guessed it, elephant garlic! The family-friendly event includes a parade, 10K run, live music, kids play area, crafts vendors and more. Fun stinks!
Bloody Mary Festival
EVENT POSTPONED. Please visit the event website for current information. The Bloody Mary Festival scours Portland for the craftiest and most delicious Bloody Marys. Your ticket includes over two hours enjoying Portland’s most creative and innovative Bloody Marys, created by the finest restaurants, bars and bottled mix companies, along with yummy food and drink tastes…
PDX Tequila & Taco Festival
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The Wedge
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VegFest
This annual 2-day festival celebrates all things related to plant-based living, with free food samples, health and nutrition speakers, chef demonstrations and more.
I Love Gamay
Join us for the 4th annual Gamay Tasting Salon at The Nightwood, featuring over 25 wineries each pouring their latest Gamay wines! As always, we’ll be featuring the trail-blazing Oregon winemakers who have largely led the domestic growth of Gamay Noir’s popularity, but this year we’re super sizing the Tasting Salon—we will be showcasing Gamays…
Cider Rite of Spring
EVENT POSTPONED. “With the news from Governor Kate Brown that all large gatherings are banned for the next month, the Northwest Cider Association has made the difficult decision to postpone Cider Rite of Spring due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The new date will be November 7th, still at the Leftbank Annex (perhaps…
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Sunday Champagne Brunch Cruise
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Brooks Concert Series – Aaron Barnhart
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Brooks Cooking Class – Oysters!
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Brooks Brunch
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