Tucson chefs explore what we eat and where it comes from

The folks at Tucson Foodie have enlisted a handful of experts to get to the bottom of this very question.

OK, they won’t delve into the origins of your fast food, but on Monday, August 26, the panel of four celebrated regional chefs and two naturopathic doctors will take a deep dive into what we eat and why.

Or, to put it in the words of Shane Reiser, head foodie at host Tucson Foodie, on his website: “This unique culinary experience aims to connect us with our food, the land, the earth, our bodies and even the cosmos.”

Unlike a nutrition lecture at university, with “Conscious Eating Under the Stars” you can literally eat along with the words.

The chefs – Sewa Yuli Portela Farias, an Indigenous community chef and recipient of the City of Tucson’s 2024 Foodways Keeper Award for food service; Kelzi Bartholomaei, the former chef and owner of Mother Hubbard Café and a leader in Tucson’s food service union; David Marks, executive chef of Tohono Chul Garden Bistro; and Feng Feng Yeh, a chef who founded the Chinese Chorizo ​​Festival, which celebrates Tucson’s role in the product – will create a dish using locally sourced ingredients.

Expect roasted pinole from Ramona Farms in Sacaton, Chinese jujube fruit, the Tohono O’odham’s signature yellow watermelon, and native tepary beans, corn, cholla buds and nopales. The people who grew these ingredients — including Aaron Cardona of Arevalos Farm and a representative from Romona Farms on the Gila River Indian Reservation — will be on hand to talk about their farming practices and how these ingredients, some of which have grown in Tucson’s arid frontier lands for thousands of years, continue to thrive today.

In between, a couple of doctors – Jasmine May, founder of Healing Spirit Soaks, and Angela Wojtowicz, who has extensive knowledge of the connection between the physical, mental and energetic bodies – explain why eating these traditional foods has healing powers.

“Mindful Eating Under the Stars” begins at 6:30 p.m. at Tohono Chul Park, 7366 N. Paseo del Norte, at West Ina Road. Tickets are $75 through eventbrite.com and seating is limited. For more information, visit tucsonfoodie.com.

“Conscious Eating Under the Stars” kicks off the Arizona Good Food Forum + Expo, which will be held Tuesday, August 27, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at El Conquistador Tucson, 10000 N. Oracle Road in Oro Valley. Dozens of speakers will discuss topics related to creating a resilient food system. Organizers describe it as a “gathering of minds and expertise dedicated to strengthening Arizona’s local food system.”

Details and tickets ($89) are available at goodfoodfinderaz.com.