Live from Tucson Eat Yourself

*technical issues! Pictures will follow*

2:47:
We arrived at Tucson Meet Yourself ready to score an exotic lunch in the Saturday afternoon sunshine. After scoring excellent street parking across from the public library, we sauntered over to the first food carts we saw including Thai, and the Tucson Tamale Company.

3:02
Overwhelmed by the options, free samples pulled me in to try a fabulous Mesquite tortilla! Made with the mesquite beans that fall to the ground several times each year in Tucson, a little whole wheat and amaranth flour, and olive oil they were tender and awesomely flavorful.

3:17
Next to the mesquite tortilla makers, I spotted a booth for Sobores Sin Fronteras or Flavors without Borders. Knowing they're associated with Native Seed/SEARCH - an organization I volunteer for - I stopped by to say hi.

Who was I to finally meet but one of my favorite authors, most admired conservationists, and founder of Native Seeds - Gary Paul Nabhan. An extraordinary surprise turned this street fair lunch date into an hour long conversation about native Sonoran grains with one of my biggest inspirations. Yes!

Gary invited and encouraged me to participate in Grain School - hosted by Native Seeds/SEARCH and Sobores Sin Fronteras - a week long series of workshops in January about growing, harvesting, processing, and popularizing native grains. I said absolutely.

4:33
Elated, I wandered off in a daze to find my friends lounging in the grass eating tacos behind the courthouse. My hero-high didn't keep me from indulging in some Oaxacan tacos and people watching.

4:56
Still wandering, and not done eating, we took in some Laotian lemondade and curry, the sight of at least 30 chuncks of meat roasting on a open pit grill, and all the happy eaters mulling about downtown Tucson.

5:23
Down at the "Soul Stage" I got to thinking about how many wonderful culinary traditions exist in Tucson and how important they are to their people to preserve them. What are my food traditions? How have they changed as I live in different places? How can we create compact, sustainable, urban food systems but still enjoy the varied traditions of a globalized community?

6:32
The evening ends at La Cocina to hear a friend's band - the 4th Street String Band - play bluegrass music inspired by my home state of Kentucky. I was struck by how beautifully they interpreted the traditional sounds I grew up with and made them their own.

Much like the food we ate and saw today, it had changed from it's original form. But that change was a naturally progression, and was still wonderful. It should be thoroghly celebrated, not disregarded in the face of modern society.