The food diplomacy of chef Naomi Pomeroy BA ’97 highlighted in the Oregonian

Chef Naomi Pomeroy BA ’97, owner of Beast and Expatriate in Portland, has gained wide acclaim for her innovative food ever since leaving Palatine Hill. When she’s not cooking or managing her restaurants, Pomeroy works with the U.S. State Department to promote American cuisine to an international audience, according to a recent article in the Oregonian.

“She talked up Alaska salmon, Idaho potatoes and Oregon’s hazelnuts to a rapt audience in Thailand in 2013,” the Oregonian writes. “She waxed lyrical about different cuts of U.S. beef to the culinary curious in Hong Kong in 2015. In October, she visited Milan to demonstrate her style of cooking using other Pacific Northwest products.”

In September, Pomeroy invited a TV crew from Bogata, Colombia, to her Northeast Portland home, where she showed Chef Alejandro Canedo, the Spanish-speaking star of the Colombian cooking show “Plan Chef,” how to make a smoked salmon souffle.

Pomeroy sees culinary diplomacy as a way to share cross culturally about food, hospitality and the dining experience.

“It’s not about the flavor of the food, but relationships,” she says. “I now have new friends in Colombia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Italy. It makes the world a closer place.”

In 2014, Pomeroy won the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Northwest. In 2008, Pomeroy was named Chef of the Year by Portland Monthly, and Beast was named Restaurant of the Year by the Oregonian. The following year, Food & Wine named her one of the 10 Best New Chefs in America. She opened her acclaimed restaurant, Beast, in 2007 and recently opened cocktail bar Expatriate with her husband, Kyle Linden Webster.