Generally, one does not equate whitewater rafting trips with exquisite food. The amusing of riding the rapids takes priority over culinary taste treats. Typically, a rafting lunch consists of balancing a sandwich, bag of chips, and store-bought cookies on your circuit as you teeter precariously on an uneven rock. And, aggrandized usually than not, some of that lunch ends up as ant cheer on the sandy shoreline.

One Oregon whitewater rafting collection has been quietly working over the persist decade to alternate the pathway their customer's eat while on the river. To effect that, the convention began by buying fruits and create in season-from resident farmers. The brainwork was that regional farmers are awesome resources. By dealing directly with these farmers, the society came into personal contact with the persons who absolutely grew the foods their clients consumed. Clients started noticing a decided departure in the freshness and uniqueness of the food. Vine-ripened tomatoes, freshly-picked blueberries, juice-dripping peaches, were all much picked by limited farmers ethical a time or two before clients enjoyed them riverside.

Bob Meister, head of the state of Whitewater Warehouse, explains the company's animation for locally grown, in-season foods. "We bonanza inspiration for our menus based on what the farmers announce us approximately community foods and their availability. As yet as possible, we and become our own make from seed on our biological farm plots. But, when we can't breed our own, we gun to district growers and producers. A culminating case of this is our local hazelnut farmer. Oregon is down pat for vitality one of the infrequent regions in the environment to cultivate these buttery nuts. It is such a treat to coerce 15 minutes to the actual hazelnut farm, speak to the farmer, and acquire them for our clients."

Whitewater Warehouse, a business that runs multi-day rafting, kayaking, and hiking trips over southern Oregon's Rogue River canyon, has been a doyen in "from the source" rafting cuisine. Further the recent fruits and vegetables, the gathering serves its clients delicacies such as smoked Oregon salmon, olive and nigrous fig tapanade, and Northwest wines. Offering foods that spotlight Oregon's incredible culinary bounty has been a calling card for the company. Clients come from all over the cosmos to exposure what infrequent other outdoor-focused companies are doing.

Molly O'Hearn, a elongate period Whitewater Warehouse client and passionate menu mortal says, "It is iron to define the aberration thanks to this partnership is so exclusive when it comes to food. I am constantly amazed at the grade of the drink that they levy before us. Legion of the items I can't still pay for as modern as they do. Their fervor for providing a first-class culinary empiricism is unsurpassed. I don't cognize of any other rafting firm that focuses so still on the merit of eats that they proposition their guests. I globetrotting all over the field on craft and eat at exotic locations. I obtain to speak that the forbearance Whitewater Warehouse offers its clients is alike no other I've experienced on my travels."

Purchasing "from the source" is getting a bit easier as producers grow into and marketing savvy. The Oregon Wine and Farm Tour sponsors a website of all-Oregon products. The purpose highlights mammoth and little Oregon producers who are outlook into their own on the public and international cuisine scene. The Southern Oregon Wineries Convention is another aggregation devoted to showcasing southern Oregon's burgeoning wine industry. Michael Donovan, spokesman for the group, shares his thoughts. "Our environment is actually faultless for a considerable assortment of grapes. We are gaining governmental exposure and consideration due to the incredible geographic diversity that helps assemble our spectacular wines. Our region runs from Roseburg to Ashland, Oregon. In it you testament treasure trove all kinds of colorful weather and geographic conditions. And this diversity is what makes our wines special. For example, in the cooler regions growers build spectacular Pinot Noir and Pinto Gris. In the dryer areas, the bold reds come into their own such as the Cabernet Sauvignon and syrah varietals."