Arizona State Museum Summer Camp
June 5-8, 2018

Multicultural Foodways and the Mestizaje of Taste in the Borderlands Directed and hosted by Dr. Michael M. Brescia, Curator of Ethnohistory

Cost: $575 for ASM members ; $615 for non-members

Tucson is the ideal place to explore the fusion of different foods, cultures, and culinary traditions. With over 4000 years of farming that have yielded a remarkably diverse nutritional regime for the inhabitants of the Sonoran Desert, it is little wonder that Tucson was the first city in North America to obtain the City of Gastronomy designation from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The

Spanish entradas of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries transformed the ecology and diet in profound ways, while the creation of the international border in the mid-nineteenth century attracted a new wave of peoples to the region, with each cultural group bringing with them different ways to prepare food. Over time, a mestizaje or fusion of taste developed in Tucson and throughout the Borderlands, and our palates today seek out and enjoy a wide range of cuisines, including Mexican, Native American, Asian, and European.

This summer camp examines the gastronomic diversity that is Tucson and the Sonoran Desert. We will examine the food history of the eastern and western hemispheres, the intersection of cultural foodways and nutritional regimes in North America in the wake of Spanish contact, and what changed and what stayed the same when the newly established international border separated Mexico and the United States in 1848 and 1854. Participants will enjoy a series of delicious meals that reflect the broader themes of the summer camp, field trips to nearby gardens and farms, and engaging lectures by campus scholars and local experts.

The fine print: Neither ASM nor the UA is responsible for any weight gain or the expansion of the waistline that might occur during or immediately following the summer camp.

You can download the camp flyer here!

For more information or to enroll in this summer camp, please contact Darlene Lizarraga in the ASM’s marketing office at (520) 626-8381 or via e-mail at [email protected]