Thank you to all of the fun ones who came out to last week’s FOURTEENTH annual 2026 Portland Fermentation Festival at Ecotrust, aka Stinkfest! Hundreds and hundreds of you from Portland, all over the Pacific Northwest, up and down the West Coast, and a lot from further astray places like Chicago, NY and even Hokkaido, Japan!
Did you know that we’ve never had a rainy Stinkfest? It’s actually really surprising considering we always have the fest this time of year. As I say, the sun always shines on Stinkfest. In more ways than one. I think it has to do with our collective spirit. Until you come to the Portland Fermentation Fest and experience it firsthand it’s hard to get that but I really do believe that all of our joy and excitement and kindness all lead to sunny skies and uplifted spirits. All of us organizers, exhibitors, demo leaders, volunteers and fest attendees make it so special. It’s essentially a one-night-a-year big festive bring-what-you-have fermentation potluck where everyone is welcome. Even microbes! Especially microbes ;)
Since day one I’ve been the informal fest photographer and documenter of our one-of-a-kind fest, and I always post a sweet memento-of-a-fest-recap for all of us who attend and for those who can’t. If you were a part of the 2026 fest in any way — thank you! Stinkfest has always been for the people by the people. There was a lot that made this year stand out, including a surprise visit from Dillon T. Pickle, the other three fun and informative demos with Sarah Pesout aka The Fermentista, Claudia Lucero of Urban Cheesecraft (and fest co-organizer!) and Che Louise of National University of Natural Medicine, and the launch of a new fest station — BYOF!
As always we had a wonderful and diverse group of fest exhibitors who offered up the dozens of wild and super flavorful special samples from the pro and amateur makers themselves. Now a fest standard, we welcomed back the Starter Barter & Adoption Center where fest attendees bring a SCOBY, take a SCOBY, bring water kefir grains, take water kefir grains! I brought a bunch of my personal kombucha SCOBYS bagged up along with recipes, others brought sourdough cultures, dairy kefir cultures and more.
This year we also welcomed back the Bacterial Petting Zoo, helmed and conceptualized by fest co-organizer, Claudia Lucero, along with longtime fest volunteer, Stacey Loy. Scroll down to see the fizzzzzzy and fuzzzzzzy fermenty critters and cultures.
We are incredibly grateful to everyone who makes our festival so fantastic year after year, including our host with the very most, Ecotrust. We couldn't do it without them. We love, love, love Ecotrust and their nonprofit mission. Others who make our festival thrive year after year include our wonderful exhibitors, demo'rs, kick-ass volunteers, grocery buyers and all the supportive local media folks who help us get the word out. And you! Our fest attendees are the very best.
In terms of social media, we have our fest Instagram + Facebook if you want to see more, and/or post or repost something from the fest. On social media please add the hashtag #pdxfermentfest to festival photos and vids. We’d love to see them. And check out me talking up this year’s fest on KATU’s AM Northwest, fest friend and longtime exhibitor, Sascha Archer of Sauvie Shrubs, talking up Stinkfest on KOIN’s AM Extra and this WIRED story by Joe Ray all about this year’s fest.
Once more, here’s a reminder of why we do what we do straight from our press release: The Portland Fermentation Festival is, and always has been, a non-commercial event. Once you purchase your ticket and enter the festival you will not be sold to. The wide array of food and drink ferments are not for sale, they are for sampling. The mission of festival has always been firmly rooted in no sales. Our one-night annual event fosters learning, connecting, communicating and celebrating fermentation with one another. We believe that transactional interactions often get in the way of that.
Self expression with no profit motive. That’s quite rare these days.
Ok, without further ado, some 2026 festival photos! Stay stinky! XOXOXO
P.S. Jump to the bottom of the post for a linked list of all of this year’s exhibitors and demo folks plus a list of all Stinkfest posts over the years!
Fest friends and volunteers, Loly LeBlanc and lil Jaspie, with their cutest and sweetest fest PICKLE PINS! Loly and fest friend + volunteer, Phoenix, (she’s in the ticketing table photos below) often make fun and scrappy-lovely fest pins or clips or necklaces for fest exhibitors, organizers and volunteers. They made these pickle pins with bubble wrap packaging! Last year’s might have been made from some repurposed undergarments. Shhhhhh!
A little closer so you can see how fun they are :)
Thank you, Tim Root, for another wild poster. We love this year’s poster so much! Spot the fermented EYEBALLZZZ?! Thank you, Tim, for making us such rad Stinkfest posters year after year!
This year’s inaugural BYOF (bring your own ferment) station! We added this station to the roster this year because we thought festgoers would love it and boy oh boy did they ever. We encouraged attendees to bring a small amount (a bottle, jar...) of any of their tasty home food and drink ferments to informally share with attendees along with some printed copies of their recipe or notes. We provided tongs, gloves, sample cups (and labels to fill out) for serving up and sampling. BYOF is our newest little fest place for home fermenters to talk with one another, share fermentation experiences and geek out about their at-home creations. It’ll definitely be back next year.
Folks cruised by BYOF throughout the night and the diverse fermented food and drink offerings that people brought to share were always in flux. I brought a bunch of bottles and jars of things including my homemade plum wine, Concord grape wine, dandelion wine, water kefir, sour pickles and more.
And I just want to give you a closeup of this super fun colorful quilted BYOF table runner made by fest friend and long-time volunteer, Nancy Guidry @nantronguidry. It’s covered in all different DIY ferments in the fest photo above this one so I want to give it the attention it deserves. When you see Nancy’s quilted table runner at the fest you know you’re at the right place.
Kariz Matic came all the way from the Bay Area for Stinkfest!! I met her at BYOF and check out her pickle blouse!!!
This daikon kasuzuke went fast because it was DELICIOUS! Stephanie, I never got o meet you and I hope I get to soon! Your daikon kasuzuke was so, soooo tasty and special. Thank you for bringing it to BYOF!
I didn’t try these but I documented them ;) they looked great too. So many interesting and tasty treats this year at the BYOF station. We might need TWO tables for it next year. That’s how popular it was.
I snapped this early on. You can’t even see the BYOF table! Ferments feeding frenzy!
Happy samplers :)
My friend, David Paulin, was super generous and brought all of these dairy kefir cultures and kombucha SCOBY/starters for the Starter Barter & Adoption Center right next to BYOF. Thank you, David! Sharing is caring. I wish I got to talk to you more.
Fest co-organizer and Urban Cheesecraft founder/owner, Claudia Lucero, at the always popular Bacterial Petting Zoo. This is the first station off the fest entrance and I love that folks can get the lowdown on a bunch of different cultures and microorganisms before they sample them in the tasting room.
Claudia made this super yummy and refreshing Orange Wheylius to sample at her Urban Cheesecraft table. So good! Big thanks to Meg Cotner of Bridgetown Bites for the photo (and all of the wonderful pre- and post-Stinkfest coverage!).
Claudia’s dear friend, Anna-Marie Khiev, serving it up to excited kiddos and adults.
Out in the Ectorust lobby the line was long but fast thanks to our kick-ass ticketing crew!
Dapper DJ Jimbo, the apple of my eye, clicking the people counter at the door and welcoming people in!
Fest co-organizer, Claudia, designs and puts up all of our wonderful fest signage every year. It’s nice to see all of the exhibitors A to Z on this poster.
The Jorinji Miso crew always sets up a big double booth at the fest and BRINGS it in terms of all of their energy, excitement and delicious miso + miso sauce + amazake offerings.
Cutest! And, did you try Jorinji’s chickpea miso ICE CREAM this year?! So good. Everything always is from Jorinji.
We love Eleni Woldeyes and her Eleni’s Kitchen fermented injera was another a fest favorite. During the fest Eleni and I talked about Eleni doing a demo at next year’s festival and I really hope that that happens. I’d love to watch and learn how she makes her injera!
Hi Sarah! Aka the Fermentista. Sarah Pesout has been doing demos at Stinkfest for years but this was the first year she tabled and it was really fun to have her set up with a bunch of her tasty treats to sample and talk about with festgoers. The fermented leeks were one of my favorite bites of the night. YUM!
Her Stinkfest array of YUM!
Sascha Archer and Chai of Sauvie Shrubs were looking as beautiful and COLORFUL as their array of locally fruited Sauvie Shrubs! I got to sip on Sascha’s Finnito Strawberry and Shiro Plum & Arona Berry and loved both so much. Always.
Look at that tart and tasty Sauvie Shrubs rainbow!
Jason Duffany and Humiko Hozumi of Obon Shokudo are Stinkfest stalwarts. I love them both so much (and their restaurant!) and they always bring something new and special to sample at the fest…
This year’s deeeeelicious Obon offering! Sorry I didn’t get a pic of it. It was beautiful.
Fest co-organizer, Claudia Lucero, getting into her DIY cheese demo — the first demo of the night!
Aaaand my other fest co-organizer, Heidi Nestler, of Wanpaku getting a pic with our favorite pickle — DILLON T. PICKLE! Dillon has been coming to Stinkfest the past few years and we hope he ALWAYS comes. He’s on our VIP list forever. Also, look at that fuzzy lil baby head in the foreground! So many cute kiddos at this year’s fest. Kids 12 and younger always get in for free. Cheers to the next generation of fermenters.
Heidi’s Wanpaku Natto tasty fest sample — natto kimchiiiii! Thanks to Meg Cotner of Bridgetown Bites for the photo!
LOOK AT THESE SWEETIES!! I snapped this right outside the demo room.
New to Stinkfest this year — Garliki! I love their fermented garlic pastes. Full of flavor and funk and I can’t wait to use it with noodles and seafood.
We love Brian and Kristina Wood of Bigfoot Cider Co! It’s been lovely to host them the past few years as their cider company kicked things off and now grows and grows every year. I loved the cranberry-orange they brought to the fest.
Nice looking crowd! Including my friend, fest volunteer, and author, Dana Sturtevant, there in plaid.
Also my dear friend, Phoenix Rath, checking people in right and left at the ticketing table!
Along with these sweet friends — all fest ticketing table volunteers (we cannot do the fest without all of our loyal and lovely volunteers!) left to right: Ryan Guidry, Sara Chest, Phoenix Rath and Nancy Guidry.
Back in the main tasting room I got to sample my friend, Nat West’s, chicha! If you don’t know about chicha you can read up on it in the WIRED story (linked up above) about the fest. I’ll keep the suspense going…
Nat has been a part of Stinkfest, in one way or another, since day one. He ALWAYS brings an interesting and experimental ferment to the fest. Love it!
We love Chant Choi from Deulpul Kimchi! Did you know that everything Chant makes is small batch and plant-based/vegan? I snapped this of him right before we opened the doors to the fest and after I asked him the ins and outs of how to make the kimchi jam that he brought and sampled in 2025. I remember most of what he said but I may have to ask him again ;) Did you try his chili oil?! SO GOOD!
It was hard to get in to Kara Vorabutr of Bistro Blue during the fest — her table was constantly packed. I did get to her before the fest though and I love that she took the train all the way up from California and made the most of her time in Portland with both Stinkfest and a fun pop-up. She brought all different small batch food and drink ferments that people adored — many made from California-foraged ingredients.
Here’s a better photo of Kara that I grabbed online. Thank you for coming up to Portland for Stinkfest, Kara, please come back!
And here’s the Portland Fermentation Festival founders crew. Left to right = me, David Barber, George Winborn. Years ago we were referred to as the “dapper foodists” in a story. It made us smile and laugh so that’s what we always call ourselves when we’re all together. DAPPER FOODISTS unite!
For the second demo of the night Che Louise of National University of Natural Medicine took festgoers through all the steps needed to make her yummy red cabbage and beet kraut.
Hi Kiyomi! Kiyomi Hasagewa is a third generation organic bean purveyor, of Beniya Hasegawa Shoten (a family-run 100-plus-years-old business). It was her -- plus her mom's (mom is in the background) -- first time attending Stinkfest. And they traveled all the way from Hokkaido to Portland to be a part! So sweet! She sampled her 15-year-old miso that she made with her family's rare native heirloom black soybeans (called Kurosengoku) from Hokkaido. She dehydrated and ground the aged miso (in the photo) in order to transport it and then sprinkled it over steamed rice at the fest and served it up with her mom's tied/hung + sun-dried daikon traditionally fermented/bedded in a nukazuke-like squash mash. Kiyomi diced the fermented daikon and served it either atop the rice and miso or on the side. We hope Kiyomi and her mom and students come back again next year!
And Careen Stoll of Luscious Porcelain and her friend, Kamala, sitting pretty pre-fest with all of Careen’s gorgeous porcelain crocks, tableware and tools. Such beauties to behold. Stinkfest loves Careen!
It was the first fest year for Vince Kelsey and Shea Guevara and they brought it! So many delicious low-impact Willamette Valley wines. I had their beautiful 2024 white blend of riesling, gewurtzraminer, albarino and chardonnay. They also poured a sparkling cider and gamay noir.
DJ Jimbo with the very special just-for-the-fest fermented slice from HOTLIPS pizza next door with a miso tomato sauce + apple kimchi + mozz + roasted garlic + mushrooms. YUM!
SakéOne is always a fest hub for their delicious sakés made in Oregon since 1992. Karsen Buck and Maddie poured a full spectrum of their tasty craft sakés and people got to ask a lot of good questions about process and ingredients.
Thank you to our Stinkfest forever home, Ecotrust! We love you and all that you do!
Another fest newbie, Krista Arias, of nature-based Bread & Blossom Preschool in North Portland!
Krista and David sampled delicious sourdough and yogurt samples that they make with their preschoolers — so tasty!
Karel Vitek has been a part of Stinkfest for many years and we love that he not only brought his delicious Stinging Kombucha Hot Sauces to sample this year he also brought his kombucha lava lamp! Not really. He lit it up to look like that though. That’s a nearly 2-year-old fermented batch of kombucha that’s at 7 ABV and still fermenting! I sipped on some and it was really tasty. Very fun experiment.
And the third, last but not least, fermentation demo of the night was with Sarah Pesout, aka the Fermentista, teaching festgoers all the ins and outs for her DIY femrented salsa.
Me + my sweet friend and longtime fest volunteer superstar, Elise! Trash party volunteer ;)
And, last but certainly not least, the Stinkfest Queens! Left to right = Heidi Nestler, Claudia Lucero and me. We did it! Yet another wild and wonderful Stinkfest. We LOVE you! See you at next year’s FIFTEENTH fest!
Here are links to recaps of all of our past festivals. All in one place. STAY STINKY!
2009 — this isn’t a recap (too busy during to snap photos!) but it gives you a feel for the very first Stinkfest.
STINKFEST 2026’s EXHIBITORS & DEMO FOLKS