A Desert Feast: Celebrating Tucson's Culinary Heritage (Southwest Center Series)

ISBN: 0816538891

Author: Niethammer, Carolyn

Condition: New

Southwest Book of the Year Award WinnerPubwest Book Design Award WinnerDrawing on thousands of years of foodways, Tucson cuisine blends the influences of Indigenous, Mexican, mission-era Mediterranean, and ranch-style cowboy food traditions. This book offers a food pilgrimage, where stories and recipes demonstrate why the desert city of Tucson became Americans first UNESCO City of Gastronomy.Both family supper tables and the citys trendiest restaurants feature native desert plants and innovative dishes incorporating ancient agricultural staples. Award-winning writer Carolyn Niethammer deliciously shows how the Sonoran Deserts first farmers grew tasty crops that continue to influence Tucson menus and how the arrival of Roman Catholic missionaries, Spanish soldiers, and Chinese farmers influenced what Tucsonans ate.White Sonora wheat, tepary beans, and criollo cattle steaks make Tucsons cuisine unique. In A Desert Feast, youll see pictures of kids learning to grow food at school, and youll meet the farmers, small-scale food entrepreneurs, and chefs who are dedicated to growing and using heritage foods. Its fair to say, Tucson tastes like nowhere else.