SALEM, Ore. – Play. Catch. Eat. Travel Oregon invites culinary explorers to dig, gather and forage on an Oregon epicurean excursion across the state with ten of the state’s top chefs as guides.

The Oregon Bounty Wanderfeast will send the chefs throughout the state — video crew in tow — to experience one of the foodie passions they enjoy outside of the kitchen. The chefs’ adventures will include fly fishing for steelhead on the Deschutes River, foraging the Oregon Trail for botanical ingredients, and milking a cow to make artisan cheese, among others. Short videos of their adventures will serve as the introduction to Travel Oregon’s culinary travel planning website, which includes all of the “how-to” and “where-to” information needed to plan a foodie getaway to Oregon.

Win an Oregon Bounty Wanderfeast Contest
One lucky “epi-tourian” will win an exclusive four-day, three-night Oregon Bounty Wanderfeast. The winner will indulge in a five-course chef’s table dinner at Le Pigeon Restaurant in Portland plus two of these options for their own Oregon Wanderfeast: head out on a pier and catch Dungeness crab, be an artisan cheese maker for a day, discover the wineries of the Columbia Gorge, create spring ales with a craft brewer, learn the art of mixology with artisan spirits or stalk a steelhead on a wild and scenic river.

To enter the Oregon Bounty Wanderfeast Contest, create an itinerary of your choosing from a variety of Oregon culinary destinations and submit in 25 words or less what makes Oregon the perfect place for your Wanderfeast. A winner, randomly selected from all submittals on Dec. 3, 2010, will have the opportunity to bring three friends or family members to accompany him or her on their culinary adventure, scheduled for April 7 – 10, 2011.  For a complete list of celebration information, contest rules and to enter, visit www.Traveloregon.com/Bounty.

“The intimacy of our culinary scene is one of the incredible, relatively undiscovered aspects of Oregon,” said Travel Oregon’s Director of Brand Strategy, Holly Macfee. “It’s one of the few states where you can eat or drink right alongside the producers that grow, make or cook the ingredients. Fall is one of the best times of year for Oregon foodie travel since many of the products are at their peak.”

New Epicurean Travel Planning Website
Want to plan your own culinary retreat? Dishing about Oregon’s secret spots, travel tips and favorite recipes designed to celebrate Oregon’s bounty, the new www.TravelOregon.com/Bounty is chock full of videos with chefs at their favorite spots, downloadable recipes and chef recommendations, foodie festivals and events along with itineraries and travel packages. Eat like a local and follow along as we highlight a new ingredient each week. The Oregon Bounty recipe collection with selections from each participating Oregon Bounty chef will be available for download at http://budurl.com/Bounty.

About Oregon Bounty
Oregon Bounty is a statewide promotion that celebrates Oregon’s culinary abundance and the fall harvest season. From August 23rd through November 30th, Oregon Bounty highlights unique travel experiences, fall events and the state’s chefs, winemakers, brewers, farmers and culinary artisans. Oregon Bounty is produced by the Oregon Tourism Commission (dba Travel Oregon), with support from Oregon’s regional destination marketing organizations, with the goal of encouraging economic growth and enhancing the quality of life in Oregon through a strengthened economic impact of tourism statewide. Travel Oregon collaborates extensively with local communities, industry associations, government agencies and private business, and is proud to grow the Oregon Bounty promotion as a key campaign in the state’s $7.7 billion tourism industry, helping Oregon to be recognized as a not-to-be-missed culinary and travel destination. Visit www.TravelOregon.com/Bounty or call 1-800-547-7842 for more information