Earlier this year, Tucson, Arizona, became the first and only place in the U.S. to be named a City of Gastronomy by the United Nations’ Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, better known as UNESCO, says the New York Times. The desert city of 500,000 joined 17 others, including Parma, Italy; Bergen, Norway and Ensenada, Mexico to carry the designation.
“Tucson has never been high on any list of great food cities,” says the Times. “Even Santa Fe, its Southwestern-food sister, gets more love. But as people here will tell you, being a great food city is not always about the restaurants.”
The city explained to UNESCO judges in its 16-page application that it has tried to preserve the flavors of the desert, flavors like popped amaranth seeds, tiny chiltepin peppers and mesquite flour cookies. In 2000, archeologists realized just how long these ingredients had been enjoyed by natives in the area, when researchers discovered a 4,000 year old farming village beneath the city, making Tucson the oldest known example of agricultural production in North America.
The city is trying to protect its gustatory heritage by maintaining a seed bank at the local library and building a Spanish colonial walled garden like the ones early missionaries planted in the 1600s. Famed seed conservationist, Gary Paul Nabhan, founded the Native Seed Search, which collects and propogates species like Sonoran wheat, “one of the oldest varieties grown in North America,” says the Times.
“Tucson has a kind of open-software approach to food,” says Don Guerra, a local baker with a national cult following. Guerra uses Sonoran wheat in his loaves. “People want others to succeed, especially if you can make food from this region.”