Fourteen Portland chefs and culinary teams are squaring off for a good cause this week, as the sold-out Stone Soup Showdown brings more than 200 people together to raise money for a nonprofit that trains people facing employment barriers to work in professional kitchens. The lineup includes Han Oak, Kachka, Norah and Magna Kusina, among others, all cooking in support of Stone Soup PDX.
Every ticket sold for the event sends proceeds back to Stone Soup PDX, which Executive Director Ellen Damaschino says runs a 12-week culinary workforce training program, according to KATU. The nonprofit describes that program on its own website as one that equips “individuals overcoming adversity with hands-on kitchen skills and job readiness support,” per Stone Soup PDX.
The Showdown isn't a brand-new idea. It began the previous year at Stone Soup PDX's own community-meal kitchen, where it sold out within 72 hours — a response strong enough that organizers decided to go bigger this time around, the station's report notes. The result is an event that now expects to pull in more than 200 attendees, all competing for sold-out tickets before the chefs even started prepping.
Chefs Bring Their Own Comfort Food to the Table
Among the competitors is Evan Bond, chef at Norah, who planned to serve kimchi jjigae, a Korean kimchi stew made with mushrooms and soft tofu. He described the dish, per the same account, as a warm, spicy and tangy comfort food — exactly the kind of bowl the event is built around. Bond said the Showdown and Stone Soup PDX both center on bringing people together, and called the event good for Portland and for the food industry as a whole.
The organization's name nods to the old folk tale of stone soup, in which strangers each contribute something small to build a shared meal — a story Stone Soup PDX cites as central to its mission, since stone soup itself has long served as a gathering point across many cultures. That framing extends to the Showdown's goal of bringing community and chefs together while showcasing Portland's food scene.
A Training Program Built Around Second Chances
Beyond the one-night event, Stone Soup PDX's daily work centers on feeding people and training them for kitchen jobs. The nonprofit says it provides nutritious meals every day to shelters, day centers and community spaces around Portland, according to its own program description. Reported weekly meal totals vary by source and date: KATU's report on the Showdown cites about 2,100 meals a week, while Bridgetown Bites reported the organization saying it makes about 2,000 meals weekly, and a Stone Soup PDX year-end post put the figure at more than 1,700 meals delivered each week to shelters and community organizations, per the nonprofit's own 2025 recap.
That same recap reported an 83% graduation rate for the training program in 2025, along with more than 80,000 meals prepared that year while 79 participants were supported toward stable employment. It also noted that 2025 brought the organization's first-ever Soup Cook-Off, which brought together some of Portland's best chefs alongside Stone Soup PDX's staff, board members and supporters — a forerunner to the kind of chef-driven fundraising now expanding with the Showdown.
Why the Need Keeps Growing
The backdrop for all of this is a sharp rise in food insecurity across the region. Oregon Food Bank's 2026 State of Hunger Report found that visits to food assistance sites across Oregon and Southwest Washington grew by 51% over two years, with the network recording 2.9 million visits last year — a record number, according to the Oregon Food Bank. The same report found that 1 in 7 people and 1 in 6 kids in the region face food insecurity.
Against that backdrop, Bond said events like the Showdown help bring people together and build community, framing the fundraiser as part of a larger effort rather than a one-off dinner. Stone Soup PDX says it hopes to grow the Stone Soup Showdown every year and is inviting community members to learn more or support its mission through its website.
