A Conversation with Gary Paul Nabhan about the State of Tucson’s Food System

by Ashley Portman

Dec 20, 2017

Gary, you and your colleagues in Tucson Arizona–America’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy–have recently found some very positive trends in the conservation and local use of food biodiversity. But first, what does that term mean?

It’s the diversity of life–of species, genes, textures, flavors and nutrients–embedded in the meals we eat, and in every garden, farm, food forest and ranch from which we gain our “daily bread.” It includes the cornucopia of crop seeds, fruit trees, bulbs, cuttings of herbs, mushrooms, wild edibles, livestock, poultry, fish and game in our food system. And it’s part of the larger realm of biocultural diversity–the know-how for wisely and sustainably harvesting, processing and eating diverse foods.