Taste the Desert
July 25, 2025 @ 6:00 - 10:00 p.m.
Join us for a night celebrating the hardy plants and deep-rooted traditions that nourish the Sonoran Desert. From mesquite to chiltepín, learn how desert plants sustain resilient communities and landscapes through a blend of flavor, culture, and hands-on discovery.
Signature Drink — Great Horned Owl: Spiced ôum;um, Butterscotch Schnapps, Peach Brandy, Ginger Schnapps
Activities
- 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Music by Unified Field Theory
- Groove to the Jazz sounds of this local band.
Website - 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Educational Activities
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Explore the biocultural heritage of our foodways through interactive stations from:
Native Seeds/SEARCH, San Xavier Cooperative Farm, Las Milpitas Community Farm, Tucson Village Farm - 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Desert Food Tasting, Baldwin Educational Building
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Sample chef-crafted bites featuring local ingredients. Meet the chefs and get inspired by the flavors of the desert! Presented in partnership with Tucson City of Gastronomy.
Meet the Tucson City of Gastronomy Chef Ambassadors
Adolfo Cabrera is Executive Chef at Quail Creek Country Club in Green Valley, Arizona. An ACF Certified Executive Chef, he began as a dishwasher, advanced through various culinary roles, and won multiple awards in American Culinary Federation cooking competitions. He is active in culinary education and community outreach and has served as president and in other leadership positions in the Southern Arizona chapter of the American Culinary Federation.
Website
Chef Mateo Cancio, a Tucson native, fell in love with the desert and cooking while gathering ingredients from his grandmother's garden and learning her traditional recipes. His culinary journey took off after winning the 2015 Jeunes Chefs Rôtisseurs regional competition as a Pima culinary student. Trained in Mexican, Italian, and French cuisines, he served as Chef de Cuisine at The Grill at Hacienda del Sol and is now Executive Chef at Nex Tucson and a Tucson UNESCO City of Gastronomy Chef Ambassador.
Website
Susan Fulton, chef and co-owner of Gourmet Girls Gluten Free Bakery/Bistro, has worked in Tucson’s food industry since 1997. She champions local producers, serves on the boards of Tucson Originals and Heirloom Farmers' Markets, and specializes in creative, gluten-free cuisine. She actively engages in cooking demonstrations and community events to promote Southern Arizona's culinary heritage.
Website
Mary Steiger is Executive Chef and co-owner of Gourmet Girls Gluten Free Bakery/Bistro in Tucson. A Scottsdale Culinary Institute valedictorian, she has managed bakeries and fine dining kitchens, specializing in gluten-free cuisine and heritage ingredients. Steiger is dedicated to inclusive dining and actively supports Tucson's culinary community.
Website
Jenna Grigalauski is a Personal Chef and Culinary Consultant based in Tucson, Arizona. She has a degree in Food Science and Human Nutrition from The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a Certificate of Professional Cookery from Kendall College in Chicago. Grigalauski's goal as a Personal Chef is to bring healthy, creative recipes to fellow Tucsonans.
Website
Pablo Valencia, Tucson-born chef and owner of Scratching the Plate, champions heritage cooking and local food. Trained from childhood and in local kitchens, he advocates for regional producers and traditions, representing Tucson as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy Chef Ambassador at international culinary events.
Website - 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Cool off in the Warden Oasis Theater
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- 6:30 - 7:15 p.m. Family Program: Sonoran Supermarket
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The Sonoran Desert is diverse and full of tasty foods if you know where to look. Join our Education Specialist Nick Powers as we search the desert for ingredients to celebrate a very special birthday!
- 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. Speaker Panel: Traditions & Resilience
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Hear from community voices and conservation leaders on desert agriculture, seed saving, and the power of cultural connections to land.
Robert Stone is a member of the Akimel O’otham (Gila River Indian Community). He has dedicated his work to preserving the traditional cultural knowledge of the Akimel O’odham, or River People. Mr. Stone has established his own farm to educate his community on growing traditional crops and has created a small seed bank to support the preservation of these important agricultural traditions.
Maegan Lopez is Tohono O’odham and from a community called Wecij Oidag (New Fields). She has one son; his name is Maximus. Maegan works as a Museum Specialist in the Collections Department at the Tohono O'odham Nation Cultural Center and Museum, also known as Himdag Ki:. In her role, she leads the care of the museum’s outdoor spaces and shares her passion for understanding, preserving, and reviving traditional agricultural practices and knowledge.
Helena Gonzales, Hopi and Navajo (Diné), is the Seed Bank Manager at Native Seeds/SEARCH where she organizes and cares for the seeds in the seedbank. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Plant Science with a minor in Biochemistry from the University of Arizona, focusing on genetics, genomics, and plant propagation. Helena is dedicated to the preservation of heirloom, desert-adapted crops from the Southwest.
- 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Pop-up Chiltepin sale
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Bring the desert home! Spice up your backyard with Museum-grown chiltepins, plus a limited selection of heritage figs and pomegranates. Supporting desert biodiversity and resilient foodways starts in your own garden.
