The Variety Showcase is a public tasting and community-building event produced by the Culinary Breeding Network and Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming. The event is dedicated to illuminating the importance of organic seed and advancing a more inclusive plant-breeding process that engages everyone across the food system.
Chefs will collaborate directly with plant breeders and farmers to create dishes featuring specific cultivars and in-development breeding lines. Guests will have the rare opportunity to taste new and emerging vegetable, grain, and fruit varieties while learning about the seed work behind them — work grounded in values such as climate resilience, culinary quality, nutrition, biodiversity, cultural heritage, and seed sovereignty.
Designed to break down the walls between eaters and breeders, the Variety Showcase invites open conversation, shared opinions, and hands-on engagement. Farmers, seed growers, chefs, bakers, distillers, retailers, distributors, and curious eaters alike are welcome. The event aims to spark joy, discovery, and meaningful connection.
Tickets are available on a sliding scale:
We're offering sliding scale pricing so everyone can participate at a level that reflects their financial capacity. As a nonprofit organization, the Variety Showcase is supported by several grant projects, but ticket sales help cover the cost of the event and directly support the work of Glynwood's Grains and Staples Program and the Culinary Breeding Network. Here's a guide to help you choose:
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Consider this level if you:
Own your home or property
Have savings or investments
Can afford regular travel and leisure activities
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Consider this level if you:
Rent comfortably or own with a mortgage
Have some savings
Have stable income with some flexibility
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Consider this level if you:
Budget carefully for necessities
Have limited disposable income
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These tickets are reserved for those for whom the $50 ticket level would be a barrier to attendance.
We encourage you to pay at the highest level you can comfortably afford. Higher ticket prices help us keep Community Access tickets available and support our work building a more just and resilient regional food system.
No one will be turned away due to cost. Please contact Claire Briguglio at cbriguglio@glynwood.org if you would like to attend but cannot afford any ticket level.
Transportation from New York City is available at $40 per seat and may be reserved with ticket purchases. Pickup point is 15th Street East between Union Square East and Irving Place.
For questions, please contact:
Ticketing: cbriguglio@glynwood.org
Glynwood Grains & Staples: grainsandstaples@glynwood.org
Lane Selman: lane.selman@oregonstate.edu
This event is funded by the USDA-NIFA-OREI project Value-Added Grains for Local and Regional Food Systems III.