Tucson chefs take a deep-dive into where we get our food

Have you ever sat down with your drive-thru burger and fries and wondered what the heck am I really eating?

The folks at Tucson Foodie have recruited a handful of experts to dive into just that question.

OK, they aren’t digging into the provenance of your fast food, but on Monday, Aug. 26, the panel that includes four celebrated regional chefs and a pair of naturopathic doctors will take a deep dive into what we eat and why.

Or, in the words of host Tucson Foodie’s head foodie Shane Reiser, posted on his website: “This unique dining experience aims to connect us to our food, the land, the Earth, our bodies and even the cosmos.”

Unlike that lecture from your college nutrition class, at “Conscious Eating Under the Stars,” you get to literally eat their words.

The chefs — Sewa Yuli Portela Farias, an Indigenous community cook and recipient of the 2024 Tucson City of Gastronomy Foodways Keeper Award; Kelzi Bartholomaei, the former chef-owner of Mother Hubbard Cafe and a leading figure in the Gastronomy Union of Tucson; Tohono Chul Garden Bistro Executive Chef David Marks; and Feng Feng Yeh, a chef who founded the Chinese Chorizo Festival celebrating Tucson’s role in the product — will create a meal using locally-sourced ingredients.

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Expect to see roasted Pinole sourced from Ramona Farms in Sacaton, Chinese Jujube fruit, Tohono O’odham signature yellow watermelon and native tepary beans, maize, cholla buds and nopales. The folks who grew those ingredients — including Aaron Cardona of Arevalos Farm and a representative of Ramona Farms on the Gila River Indian Reservation — will be on hand to talk about their farming practices and how those ingredients, some of them that have grown in Tucson’s arid borderlands for thousands of years, are still flourishing today.

In the in-betweens, a couple of docs — Jasmine May, founder of Healing Spirit Soaks; and Angela Wojtowicz, who has a deep knowledge of the connection between physical, mental and energy bodies — will explain why eating those heritage foods offers healing powers.

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

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

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