Portland Fridge - Lunch Break Nau
Story and Photo by Jen Marlow
For Summer 2007
THE PORTLAND FRIDGE IS BREAKING TWO TRADITIONS in this issue of Edible Portland. First, we’re changing locations from the household to the workplace, this time reporting from the Pearl District office kitchen of Nau Inc. Nau’s new clothing line—featuring corn-based fabrics—has no logo. Its hybrid, monochromatic design combines a sexy, asymmetrical look (think Urban Outfitters) with the sustainable manifesto of the wear-it-out crowd (think Patagonia).
Headed by a bunch of do-gooder ex-Nike execs, the company soulfully nurtures community, which is why we’re breaking another Portland Fridge tradition: meet Alex Hamlin, studio production manager; Otis Rubottom, Nau writer and editor; and Jolynn Ovington, vice president of merchandising. Three voices capture the Nau spirit better than one. Read on to sample the wild assortment of foods stashed about the Nau kitchen:
MARK’S GOURMET CHEESES
Alex: We ate the cheese right before you came.
Jolynn: Mark always keeps a selection of cheese and chocolate stockpiled in the fridge. We have a lot of fine food aficionados in the house.
Otis: Let’s be clear. I like soft, ripe, cow’s milk cheeses.
Jolynn: He’s the food snob. He’s not picky at all!
Otis: I like mac and cheese and cheese fries, just like the next guy. It just has to be Gruyère.
BRIDGEPORT BREW
Alex: The kitchen is the only non-work space in the office, so it’s where the impromptu groupings occur. Friday at 4 p.m., we typically meet up here and pull all the leftovers from the fridge—cheese, crackers, chocolate, whatever. People will snack, pour themselves a beer and hang out.
Otis: Technically, we’re not allowed to drink during the day, but that doesn’t stand in the way.
Alex: We have a keg in the kitchen—c’mon. And Darcy, our office manager, keeps wine and Champagne locked in a file cabinet.
Otis: I know where she keeps the key.
TRIPLE-CERTIFIED JOE
Otis: Darcy orders the coffee from Percasso coffee service. Stumptown used to be in the coffee rotation, but we had to trim some costs. I’m lobbying hard to get Stumptown back, and I think I might be successful.
Alex: Tanager Song is what we’re pouring now. It’s organic, fair-trade, shade-grown coffee.
Otis: It’s not my favorite, but it does hew all the ethically important qualities. As an office, we drink a lot of coffee. We made a concerted effort to buy two cases of travel mugs after we noticed the kitchen trash bin filling to the brim with nonrecyclable to-go cups. There are more people in the office toting reusable mugs now than there were six months ago.
CAÇHACA
Jolynn: Folks here often bring food back from their travels—usually candy or liqueur. a few days ago, James brought this Caçhaca back from Portugal and served everybody caipirinhas at the end of the day.
Otis: That stuff is deadly. It’s like Everclear, only it tastes good.
SALAD À LA JOLYNN
Otis: I would say a solid half of people at Nau bring their lunch every day.
Jolynn: I bring my lunch almost 98 percent of the time. I can’t eat gluten, which prevents me from eating at 90 percent of restaurants. I also need to eat a lot throughout the day because I have a high metabolism.
Otis: Not as high as Andrew.
Jolynn: But Andrew rides his bike 85 miles a day…. Today I made a huge salad with a whole head of lettuce, an avocado, tomato, red pepper, roasted chicken and my own dairy- and gluten-free, low-fat salad dressing. And I make it all here, so it’s fresh.
GOD FOOD
Alex: You watched my lunch tactic today, which was to eat people’s leftover food scraps. Food is the one place where I cut costs. I have been eating peanut butter for lunch every single day for years.
Jolynn: But you have a whole shtick on the beauty of peanut butter—that it’s God’s gift to the world.
Alex: It’s not the peanut butter; it’s peanut butter and jelly together. The unexpected combination of these two opposing ingredients—peanuts and strawberries—is unworldly. I store liter glass bottles of Adam’s natural chunky peanut butter at my desk—upside down. That way the oil rises to the top, and it mixes easier. Then I spread the peanut butter and Smucker’s strawberry jam on toasted ciabatta from the Italian café across the street.
Jolynn: You use Smucker’s? I’ll bring you some homemade jam to try.
Alex: It’s a lifelong thing; I’ve been eating Smucker’s since I was three. The other jams are too expensive.
Otis: A PB&J on ciabatta is Alex’s high-low.
DO NOT EAT: FOR LUSCIOUS
Alex: These treats are for Luscious the dog.
Jolynn: There’s not much room in the fridge for dog food. We have a first come, first serve policy. If you get here early, you get to put your stuff in the fridge. If not, well… Richard is lobbying for another fridge. I don’t know where we’re going to put it.
Otis: I look at it more as a Tetris-like problem. The fridge is actually limitless, as long as you organize it appropriately. If I arrive and my yogurt doesn’t fit, I just take it as a challenge.
SUGAR-FREE RED BULL
Otis: I’ve never seen Red Bull in our office until last Friday, when guys from a production company down the street dropped off three cases of beer and a case of sugar-free Red Bull.
Alex: It’s gross. Don’t drink it.
Otis: I’m bummed our kitchen isn’t full of photogenic food. My entryway into a more conscientious lifestyle is through food, but I try not to be too preachy about it. I think there is a desire to have an office that promotes better food choices, but nobody’s getting their lunch checked at the door by the sustainability police.
