CONSERVATION

visitor’s center itself has pomegranate bushes that
may be almost a century old, as well as Mission
olive trees, apricot, sour orange and pear trees,
protected in the adobe courtyard.
Among the day’s flavor highlights was the
lunch provided by Avalon Gardens including
handmade tortillas made from the rare
White Sonora wheat; and tacos from freshly
ground corn (nixtamal) at the Native Seed/
SEARCH Conservation Farm. We sampled
Mission olives, prickly pear lemonade and
local bacanora mescal at the Almunia de los
Zopilotes Experiment Orchard in Patagonia as
well, where eighty heritage varieties of fruits
and nuts now grow. We ended our day at the
new Overland Trout Restaurant in Sonoita,
where Chef Greg LaPrad treated us to a diverse
menu of locally produced Ark of Taste foods
and Mission grape wine provided by Sonoita
Vineyards. The day blended heritage food
cultivation, agricultural geography, flavor,
and recipes, all to promote heritage foods
conservation and market recovery.
Heritage food tours can teach us of how
the regional blend of flavors and foodways
practices reveals a long and complex history
informed by the particular geography of the
place, its climate, soils, native plant and
animal communities, and its people. We can
remember how farmers have selected and
propagated varieties of corn, beans, squash,
amaranths, and chiles over years of farming in
North America. We can also savor the more
“In the food deserts found on American
Indian reservations, where diabetes
affects large sectors of the population,
a new interest in reviving nutritious,
traditional native foods is emerging
among health conscious tribal youth.
When these young people engage with
the traditions of their elders, a vital link is
forged between the past and the future
- a link which ensures the survival of
ancestral knowledge and revitalizes the
traditions which, for centuries, enabled
good health, strong communities, and
food security for tribal people.”
Gay Chanler, chef, rural anthropologist and
founder of the Navajo-Churro Sheep Presidia,
Flagstaff AZ
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