This week I’m traveling to Portland, OR for the Whole Grain Summit 2015, where I’m speaking about Communicating the Science of Whole Grains. Although I flew Jet Blue – which serves snacks, including whole grain chocolate chip cookies – I was pretty hungry when I landed at PDX. 

But can I really find whole grains at the airport? I was pleasantly surprised to find that the answer is yes. Airport food has come a long way in recent years, offering some decent options for someone who likes Real Food, including whole grains. Here’s a pictorial review of what I found.

Panda Express (below) is following restaurants like Panera and Chipotle in embracing real ingredients, fresh and simple. They offer a choice of white rice or brown rice at all locations. (Do they add extra oil to their brown rice? In the USDA nutrient database, the calories for white and brown rice are pretty similar.)

Cafe Yumm!, with 18 locations in Oregon and Washington, specializes in organic rice bowls, though they also offer wraps, bentos, sandwiches and soups. Your choice of brown rice or Thai jasmine white rice on most dishes, and a choice of white or wheat wraps.

Few of us had even heard of steel cut oats five or ten years ago, and now they’re everywhere. We found them in two sizes and three flavors at Potbelly Sandwich, at the Portland Airport. Potbelly has a multigrain bread too. They don’t specify all the ingredients, but based on the fiber and protein levels, it seems to have a significant whole grain content (they do say it contains wheat, buckwheat, rye and oats). At another airport a few years ago I hung around a Potbelly to eavesdrop on people ordering sandwiches (I know; my job makes me a bit strange) — and was intrigued to see that about half the people seemed to be ordering on multigrain. Maybe someday they’ll call the multigrain “regular” and the other choice “white.”

Want a sandwich or a salad instead? Elephants Delicatessen has five locations in and around Portland, including the one at the airport that they call Flying Elephants. About half their sandwiches are on whole grain bread, and they offer a great quinoa black bean salad, too.

I hopped on the MAX, Portland’s great public transit system, and continued on into town. The Nines Hotel, where the conference is taking place, is just a few blocks away from one of Portland’s largest food truck “pod,” so I continued my hunt for whole grains on the go there, at SW 10th and Alder Although whole grain choices were certainly not available in every truck, we found brown rice bowls, tabbouli salad made with bulgur, Bento boxes with your choice of white or brown rice, lamb shawarma on whole grain flatbread, and traditional French crepes made with buckwheat.

What whole grain choices are available “on the go” where you live? Share your favorites on Instagram! (Cynthia)