PORTLAND, Ore. - CuisineWire -- History was made on Saturday, the 8th of July, when in a competition for Best Bakon Bite a team of Chefs Cammeron Kelso, Brian Steadham and Tyler Sirna from Portland's new restaurant Grass Fed (soon to open at the Ritz Carlton) using Thrilling Foods plant-based Bakon won first place over all the competing pork bacon entrees. The Beach, Bakon and Brews event was sponsored in part by Sunny Valley Smoked Meats, a JBS Swift company at the Chinook Winds Beach Resort in Lincoln City, OR and drew a large crowd of bacon hungry attendees. Seventeen culinary teams cooked up their best bacon dish to raise money for their favorite charities.

The Grass Fed vegan team's Chef Cameron Kelso said, "We had to petition for them (Sunny Valley) to let us join as a vegan team and to use our own product. We used Thrilling Foods Bakon because it's the best around." The Grass Fed team offered up a Bakon baklava, Bakon mac n cheese, and Bakon breakfast egg rolls, all vegan and harm-free. The crowd and the judges did not seem to pay much attention to or care that the best tasting, and winning bites were made using Thrilling Foods plant-based Bakon. Another Grass Fed Chef, Brian Steadham was proud to say, "I mean it's absolutely insane. It really is to literally show up and win a competition without the product itself that the competition is for." Chef Sirna added, "Some people were surprised but everyone thought it was well deserved." Chef Kelso believes Sunny Valley may have regrets, "They didn't think we were going to be a contender at all, they weren't bothered, they weren't worried, but maybe they should have been."

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We reached out to Sunny Valley to ask them what they thought of the vegan bacon team winning their bacon competition but didn't get an answer. Two things are pretty clear from the event, Sunny Valley Smoked Meats are good sports to have allowed a plant based bacon to compete with their pork bacon, and just how far plant based bacon has apparently come. Chef Steadham, "At the end of the day good food will win and people will choose that."

Full length video press release located at https://youtu.be/iyHbgvBO4IU