Chicory Week

Chicory Week began in 2018 as a festive collaboration between local farms and restaurants. This week aims to be adventurous, delicious, social, and bitter in the best way. Chicory Week culminates in the Sagra del Radicchio to honor our favorite Pacific Northwest bitter vegetable. The week and first two Sagra events were organized in a grassroots fashion by Local Roots Farm, Culinary Breeding Network, London Plane, Tom Douglas Seattle Kitchen and Uprising Seeds.

2020 Radicchio Expedition

This project evolved into the first ever RADICCHIO EXPEDITION. In January 2020, 22 farmers, chefs, scholars, advocates, journalists and a photographer from Oregon and Washington visited production farms, seed companies and radicchio breeders throughout the Veneto region for five days with the mission to learn more about both production methods and culinary uses for radicchio, and to bring back that information for growers, cooks and eaters. The Expedition was organized and led by Italian farmer Myrtha Zierock of Azienda Agricola  Foradori in Mezzolombardo, Italy, and Lane Selman of Culinary Breeding Network. The expedition culminated in a public event and radicchio celebration called Giàz (meaning ‘ice’ in the Trentino dialect) at Foradori. Both activities were a tremendous success and set the groundwork for a long-term cultural exchange.