First day at the IFBC food blogger conference in Portland, Oregon, and the event kicked off with an inspiring and fun keynote speech by Bruce Seidel, CEO of Electus’ YouTube Food Channel, Hungry. How wonderful to see so many talented chefs being produced on a channel that doesn’t require a cable subscription. I can’t wait to check them all out, especially the new Gluten Free offering airing mid-September.

Following the welcome, the IFBC threw us into the blogging ring with a whirlwind event that I call “speed tasting” — think speed dating for food fans — in which 20+ food vendors shared their wares with us in a series of mini 5-minute presentations at each of our tables. We were bombarded with chocolates, beer, truffles, water buffalo tartare, and finishing salt, to name just a few. Here are several that made an impression on me:

Coastal Mist

Oh, my! 6-layer dark chocolate ganache truffle! These chocolates are creamy and decadent Belgian chocolates produced out of love in Bandon, Oregon.

Jacobsen Salt Co.

Mild and briny finishing salt from Jacobsen Salt Co in Portland. Sea salt harvested from Netarts Bay. “Salt transcends everything in food.” says Ben Jacobsen, proprietor.

Happyrockcoffee.com

Very smooth South American coffee. Strong, but with a smooth finish — very nice. Don’t even miss the cream and sugar!

Temptress Truffles

No, not truffles as in chocolate — truffles as in black, earthy treasures of the soil, truffles! Here we tasted Truffle-Salted-Caramel: black truffle butter, oil and salt reduced down to a caramel then served with green apples! Who’d think? Farmers Market guru, Elan is awesome.

Fishes Sushi & Japanese Cuisine

Local sustainable fish from Cannon Beach, Oregon. Here we have an Oregon Roll: Oregon grown Dungenous crab sushi roll, with Oregon wasabi (not horseradish, but a wasabi plant — whoo! packs a kick!)

Packer Orchards and Bakery, Hood River

Spiced vanilla pear butter: autumn in your mouth! — ’nuff said.

Straw Propellar Gourmet Foods

Instant Oatmeal with GF offerings, and the company gives to charity every quarter: what a great criteria for a company. 90% of the sugar is from the fruit, no processed sugars.

The Well Traveled Fork

Whoa! More chocolate! Really loving this!
Black Butte Porter Cupcakes from Deschutes Brewery from The Well Traveled Fork, LLC in Bend, OR. Fresh, organic, seasonal and sustainable food. They give culinary tours, and teach children where food really comes from.

Rogue Creamery

Oregon Bleu Cheese from Rogue Creamery outside Grants Pass, OR. Hands down: BEST BLEU CHEESE I’VE EVER EATEN! They also produce the first smoked bleu cheese in the country: Wish she had a sample of that!

Nicky Farms

Now this one’s definitely a first, but hopefully not a last: Water Buffalo Steak Tartare from Nicky Farms. WOW is about all I can say. Now I’ve had tartare before — steak, tuna, etc. But this had such an amazing mildness to it, not gamey at all, with a succulent and creamy mouth-feel. It was my last bite of the event, and surely the most remembered. (Apologies for the photo. The iPhone doesn’t do great with macro shots.)