Giving Compass' Take:

• Tucson has preserved native foods to the benefit of native and non-native locals. Other cities can use their techniques to maintain and bring back native foods. 

• How can other cities follow Tucson's example? What other methods are cities successfully using to promote native foods?

• Find more resources on this reading list for foodie activists. 

Tucson is a foodie town. But rather than artisan breads and local avocados drawing crowds of tourists, it’s the relationship between diverse plants and people that earned it the distinction of being the first UNESCO City of Gastronomy in the United States in 2015.

The UNESCO distinction came as a result of Tucson’s long agricultural history and its wide-ranging efforts to preserve its food heritage and increase access to healthy, culturally appropriate foods for all residents. And a recent report from the University of Arizona Center for Regional Food Studies, on the “State of Tucson’s Food System,” delved further into how the city can use its UNESCO designation to further improve its food system.

Because of protective farming traditions that span the last 4,000 years, more than 2,000 edible plant varieties thrive in Tucson—from prickly pears to mesquite pods and Pima lima beans.

Now a host of community gardens, organizations like seed-saving cooperatives and institutions including the regional food bank are working in their own ways to nurture the region’s rich agricultural traditions.

A group of Tucson librarians has also developed a system of distributing seeds—using the extensive reach of the public library—as a means to improve the health outcomes of residents who struggle with food access.

In 2012, the Pima County public library system began distributing heritage seed packets—once a luxury good for hobby gardeners—to anyone with a library card.

Read the full article on native food heritage by Cat Modlin-Jackson at YES! Magazine