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Find African culinary souvenirs from tinned fish to imported sodas and satisfy even the most discerning foodies at Mama Pauline’s in the Alberta Arts District.
Credit: Emily Prado
These local grocers specializing in vegan hot dogs, chef-made hummus, imported sea salt and more showcase the distinct quality and range that can be found in Portland’s specialty products.
4 min read
Emilly Prado
Emilly Prado is a writer, award-winning journalist and consultant living in Portland. Read More
In Portland, where neighborhood delis, mom-and-pop shops and retailers abound, small and slow boutique food shopping can feel refreshing, comforting and even revolutionary in a landscape of ever-enlarging big-box grocery stores. These specialty grocers, with their focus on quality and ethical ingredients, make the case that bigger isn’t always better. Grab a bite to eat, pack your own artisanal charcuterie board for a picnic, or pick up some gourmet gifts for foodies.
The Meadow
A bite of steak sprinkled with finishing salt planted the seed for what would later become The Meadow, a charming artisan goods shop created by Mark Bitterman in 2006 — a whopping two decades after that bite of steak. Bitterman’s fateful experience blended with his passion for travel, and he journeyed to meet salt makers around the globe. Today he’s an award-winning author of several books, including Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral with Recipes. He still operates The Meadow, which has since grown to three locations in Portland (Mississippi, Hawthorne and NW 23rd) and another in New York City.
No matter which Meadow location you pop into, enthusiastic shopkeepers will guide you through their stock: salts, chocolate, bitters and flowers. But be warned: The Meadow, akin to the salt bite, can feel transcendental, leaving you with sudden expertise on the versatility of salt block cooking and the impact on farmers and shoppers alike from direct-trade retail. If you want to buy it all but aren’t sure where to start, you can’t go wrong with their curated gift boxes, with themes like “Oregon foodie,” “pantry essentials,” and cocktail kits.
Providore Fine Foods
At first glance, Providore Fine Foods might appear to be an ordinary (albeit strikingly elegant and friendly) neighborhood grocer, but a closer look reveals this Portland institution, which opened in 2016, is actually a collective of several businesses — each bringing their expertise and artistry to the floor.
Pastaworks, a European-inspired market that has flourished in Portland since 1983, is the central tenant at Providore, and they stock an array of fresh pasta and excellently prepared salads in the deli case. Rubinette Produce brings in fruits and vegetables from local farms, Revel Meat Co. runs the locally sourced butcher shop, and bouquets by Hilary Horvath Flowers line the check-out counter. Providore’s footprint nearly doubled in 2021 with additional market space housing an expansive wine bar and bottle shop. There’s more to the store; an in-person peruse is the best way to fully take in Providore’s mouthwatering stock of imported and regional pantry goods.
The collaborative approach to curation makes for an exquisite experience for visitors and the perfect place to stock up for a picnic at your favorite Portland park. We suggest pairing the experience with Comedy in the Park at Laurelhurst Park or a hike to Mount Tabor, a dormant volcano with sweeping city views.
Mama Pauline’s African Market
Every inch of Mama Pauline’s African Market is packed with global products from Ethiopia to the Ivory Coast and Cameroon to the Caribbean. The main room of the store is lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves of spices, condiments and tomato- and olive-oil-drowned tinned fish. A small but mighty selection of produce brims with fresh plantains, yams, cassava and more. Cool off with chilled imported drinks like Jamaican citrus soda Ting or UK-made Lucozade, and find specialty meat and fish items like cubed goat, cow skin and tilapia in the freezer.
In the back, a gorgeous array of bangles and vibrant clothing is displayed next to impressive sky-high racks of high-quality, hard-to-find staple grains and flours — including the owner’s own brand — like parboiled rice, garri, banku mix (a blend of fermented white corn and cassava flour) and egusi.
World Foods
World Foods is a grocery store made for getting lost in. It isn’t a maze, by any means, but rather the wide variety of products, commercial orange juice squeezer, and an entire aisle dedicated to chocolate are experiences meant to be savored. You can settle in for a glass of wine from a bountiful selection, sip kombucha on tap, or warm yourself up with a golden milk latte. But perhaps all the aforementioned activities are best spent leading up to a trip to the chef-run deli, which features countless savory and sweet hot and cold case options created by chef Mirna Attar — the same chef and owner of Portland’s famed Ya Hala Lebanese restaurant. The saying goes, “If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” but I wonder instead, “If a shopper makes a trip to World Foods but doesn’t stop by the deli counter, does it even count as a visit?”
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