As featured in...

Mrs. Maki interviews Mark at AM 860. They talk about Portland's food culture, the origins of the word "Selmelier", how to salt a salad, and much more. You can listen to Mrs. Maki every Sunday at 9am. View Here>>

“Please pass the salt!” We all know that classic phrase, usually uttered with a certain urgency. All primed for that great first bite, always the best bite, only to fall flat, the flavor still trapped inside waiting to be released with a pinch of the powerhouse of flavor; salt. What is the big deal with salt? It’s just sodium chloride, isn’t it? Little white grains that make our food taste better right?”…..”Don’t know where to begin? We asked salt connoisseur and author Mark Bitterman to suggest an essential salt “starter kit.”View Here>

Marie Claire says shopping at The Meadow as a "must-do" while you're visiting Portland. They also recommend D Street Noshery's food carts on SE Division and the Bella Organic Farm on Savie Island.View Here>

Visiting The Meadow was an unexpected and rather mind blowing treat. I hadn’t heard of the artisanal salt, bitters, chocolate, flower and vermouth store before — clearly due to a lack of reading on my part because after visiting I spent some time on the Internet researching this wondrous place and its well-earned reputation for amazing products. When I walked into this spot I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of salts and dark chocolates lining the walls — we’re talking hundreds of examples of each. View Here>

It's a time-honored truth that salt is a cook's best tool, but not all varieties are created equal - a lucky few provide crackly final touches to everything from broiled fish to fresh fruit. We asked Mark Bitterman, author of Salted, to walk us through three of his favorite finishing salts.View Here>>

We are often quick to complain long and loud about bad customer service experiences. But what about great experiences? Sometimes a company just goes above and beyond in service — whether that is seen in correcting a mistake, offering special education and resources to customers, or just being all-round nice people. What are your stories of amazing customer service from kitchen shops and brands? Other kitchen shops simply go above and beyond in education and resources for their customers. Mark Bitterman loves to teach customers about salt at his shop in Portland.View Here>>

For a chocolate lover, walking into The Meadow in Manhattan's West Village is a bit like walking into a cathedral—one that also functions as a methadone clinic. Bars and bars of gorgeous, painstakingly crafted chocolate line the shelves, quietly demanding both reverence and the total abandonment of reason and self-restraint.The intoxicating hybrid is the work of Mark Bitterman and Jennifer Turner Bitterman , who opened their first location of The Meadow in Portland, Oregon, in 2006. Four years later, they launched a second store in New York City. Their shops feature over 300 varieties of chocolate bars from around the world, with a particular emphasis on dark chocolate.   View Here>

Salt is as old as civilization itself. Precious for its role in preserving and flavoring foods, it carved the spice routes and was traded as crystallized currency in Roman times. Today we have our pick of gourmet salts from around the world, and while it's long been embraced at the dinner table, bartenders_ including a growing number in New York- are looking to the age-old seasongin as a cocktail ingredient...Many New Yorkers are finding inspiration at The Meadow, a specialty salt show with locations in New York's West Village and in Portland, Oregon.View Here>

If you are lucky, you may find two or three types of salt in your local grocery store (and I am not talking about flavored salts) which range between iodized, kosher and sea. These are BORING and wholly lacking of the attention salt deserves. Consider Bolivian Rose, Cyprus Black Diamond, Bengal Blue, Bali Rama Pyramid, Himalayan Pink, Korean Amethyst Bamboo, Hawaiian Black Lava, Chinese Jade Sands, Italian Ittica d'Or, Australian Murray River Flake -- the list goes on and on. Each one of these has a separate and distinct flavor, shape, texture and color difference. There is as much taste difference, shape difference, texture difference and color difference in salt as there ever was in pepper.  View Here>>