Tasting Arizona: Connecting a sense of place (and fun) to your taste buds Patty West [e-mail] 928-607-3162

1
Tasting Arizona Connecting a sense of place (and
fun) to your taste budsPatty Westpaw3333_at_yahoo.
com928-607-3162
2
Tasting the World Visitors want the local flavor
The customer is the driver.
3
Tasting Arizona Taste your place

• What does Arizona taste like?
• tangy pine needles
• pungent sagebrush
• grapes from lush canyons
• What would your area taste like?

4
Tasting Arizona What would innovation look like
(or taste like) ...

• Local foods would be linked to activities.
• Traditional foods would be served on tours.
• Visitors and residents would have access to local
  foods.
• Here are some examples...

5
Tasting Arizona Example-Taste the Wild

• Add wild food walks into tours.
• Connect wild food to wildlife.
• Savour wild foods you can find.
• Preserve what you love (and love to eat).

6
Tasting Arizona Introducing new flavors

• Bring foods in in familiar ways
• Example Mesquite flour

7
Tasting Arizona Reviving Heritage Foods

• Communities are strengthening their food
  traditions
• Harvest festivals are celebrating success
• Youth are getting involved
• More varieties are being grown
• People are reconnecting food to place

8
Tasting Arizona Challenges

• Decreases in locally produced food
• Water used for development
• Lack of place-based agriculture
• Losses of agricultural diversity
• Addiction to out-of-season foods
• Distribution mechanism not based on small
  production

9
Tasting Arizona First Step

• Re-growing our food system
• Bringing back farmers markets
• Supporting local farms
• CSAs
• Showing our demand for local foods
• Growing our own food
• Participating in community gardens
• Contributing to organizations that are helping
  maintain and strengthen your food systems
• Restoring orchards

10
Tasting Arizona Collaborations are the Key
Innovations

• The strength of using food is that it is a
  commonality that brings people together to
  achieve their common goals.

11
Tasting Arizona Partners

• Tourism providers
• Farmers markets
• Non-profit organizations (Native Movement, Native
  Seeds SEARCH, Slowfood USA, etc.)?
• Tribes
• Schools
• Hospitals
• National and State Parks (Slide Rock)?
• Festival organizers

• Local growers (farmers and ranchers)?
• Foragers of wild foods
• Restaurants
• Food enthusiasts
• University researchers
• Plant and seed sellers
• Heritage food growers
• Youth gardens
• Community gardens

12
Tasting Arizona Strategies for moving forward

• Forging creative collaborations to support the
  food system.
• Bringing visitors together with local communities
  to benefit both.
• Creating festivals that celebrate the food of the
  place.

13
Tasting Arizona National Heritage Areas
14
Tasting Arizona Heritage Orchard Restoration

• Find varieties of fruits that were once in your
  area.
• Strengthen varieties which are present, but
  declining.
• Having workshops for residents and visitors.
• Creating festivals that celebrate the food of the
  place.
• Collaboration with Arizona State Parks

15
Tasting Arizona Festivals and Feasts

• Sponsor local festivals that celebrate
  place-based foods.
• Collaborate with local producers and collectors
  to feature foods specific to the area.
• Invite local chefs to prepare local foods in a
  way that ensures a positive first experience with
  foods.

16
Tasting Arizona Food tours

• Create maps of place-based food places of
  interest
• Small farms
• Production facilities
• Restaurants
• Farmers markets
• Wineries

17
How can you connect visitors to a place with
local foods?

• Help visitors discover foods that are from the
  place you live.
• Express to growers your desire to include local
  foods in your tours. Work with them!
• Support local farmers, ranchers and foragers by
  bringing visitors to them.
• Include food production, preparation and culture
  in tours.

18
Why innovate? When and How to innovate? What
are the challenges and opportunities? Who to
innovate with?
19
Thanks

• The Center for Sustainable Environments
• The Center for Desert Archaeology
• The NAU School of Hotel and Restaurant Management
• Native Seeds SEARCH
• Arizona State Parks Board
• EMA
• Slowfood USA
• RAFT