CULTURAL IMMERSION EXPERIENCE

Course Description

Recognized as a Master in Ancestral Foodways by the community, Maria del Carmen Parra Cano and was awarded a Master apprenticeship award in 2020 by Southwest Folk Alliance. Chef Maria Parra Cano is mami-preneur of Sana Sana Foods and Indigena. Born and raised in Barrio Garfield, Downtown Phoenix, Maria received her undergraduate degree from Arizona State University, her MBA from Grand Canyon University and a culinary arts degree from Scottsdale Culinary Institute - Le Cordon Bleu.

Chef Maria will provide a hands-on workshop focused on seeds & storytelling while preparing a meal.

• Participants will be able to select from images depicting plants from the Sonoran Desert, cultural images, and glyphs.
• They will use seeds & grains being used in the dishes to create art prints that they can take home.
• Participants will also participate in prepping items that will be cooked and shared as a community meal.
• Participants will be provided with a workshop handout that includes all recipes being shared.

Xinachtli (Sheen-ach-tlee) is a Nahuatl (Aztec) describing the moment a seed germinates, reaching its “bursting” and “in between” point when it is no longer a seed and not yet the plant it will transform into.

Sana Sana is a plant-based movement aimed at healing the community from diseases like diabetes and hypertension through food. Chef Maria was taught to cook at a very young age by her mother, Maria Cristina Parra Martinez, and learned about indigenous cuisines from Central and Southern Mexico. Maria has been working with local community groups to expand their knowledge of ancestral/traditional foods by providing community cooking classes, demos, and workshops, as well as a mobile Indigenous Food Pantry.

*NEW* We also offer a MasterClass Food Series Bundle. Enroll in all three courses (Crop to Cup Master Class, Xinachtli ~ Ancestral Cooking and Storytelling and It Starts With The Seed: An Introduction to Tohono O'odham Farming) for a discounted rate. This option is available when registering. This course is limited to 25 participants. 

Course Format

Masterclasses are a new feature of the SBS Community Classroom Program. Masterclasses are taught by an expert instructor as a one-time workshop-style class. The class will be interactive according to the subject matter and students will get the opportunity for Q&A with the instructor(s).

Attendance & Participation

This course will be delivered in-person at the Mission Gardens.

Registration

Online registration for this course will open Monday, August 1, 2022 at 10 AM. After registration, participants will receive a receipt of registration. Subsequently, participants will receive class instructions 1-2 weeks before the start of the course.

Refunds

Refunds are available. They must be requested at least 48 hours before the start of the class. Individuals who register for the Masterclass bundle and need to arrange for cancelation and/or refund, please contact Stephanie Noriega at communitymatters@email.arizona.edu

A $10 administrative fee for each cancellation will apply.

Course Description

Ever wondered where your coffee comes from and how it ends up in your cup? If so, this masterclass is for you. In 1824, President Jefferson deemed coffee "the favorite drink of the civilized world." Indeed, as one of the most consumed drinks after water, with more than 400 billion cups consumed each year, and one of the most traded commodities after oil, coffee has an undeniable impact globally. Join coffee expert Burc Maruflu, an instructor in the School of Geography, Development and Environment as well as the founder and owner of Savaya Coffee Market to learn about the coffee supply chain, from farming, processing, exporting, importing and roasting to retail sales. 

In this masterclass, students will briefly examine topics including how coffee is involved in global power structures; the history of coffee; the difference between commercial and specialty coffee; coffee taste profiles from different parts of the world; coffee and climate change; consumer health and wellness; coffee-related careers; and more. Coffee tasting will be included! 

Dr. Maruflu is a Q Grader, which is like being a sommelier in the coffee world. He also is licensed by the Coffee Quality Institute as an expert taster, or "cupper," and evaluates coffees based on the Specialty Coffee Association guidelines.  

*NEW* We also offer a MasterClass Food Series Bundle. Enroll in all three courses (Crop to Cup Master Class, Xinachtli ~ Ancestral Cooking and Storytelling and It Starts With The Seed: An Introduction to Tohono O'odham Farming) for a discounted rate. This option is available when registering. This course is limited to 25 participants. 

Course Format

Masterclasses are a new feature of the SBS Community Classroom Program. Masterclasses are taught by an expert instructor as a one-time workshop-style class. The class will be interactive according to the subject matter and students will get the opportunity for Q&A with the instructor(s).

Attendance & Participation

This course will be delivered in-person at the University of Arizona Tucson Campus. 

Registration

Online registration for this course will open August 1, 2022 at 10 AM. After registration, participants will receive a receipt of registration. Subsequently, participants will receive class instructions 1-2 weeks before the start of the course.

Refunds

Refunds are available. They must be requested at least 48 hours before the start of the class. Individuals who register for the Masterclass bundle and need to arrange for cancelation and/or refund, please contact Stephanie Noriega at communitymatters@email.arizona.edu
A $10 administrative fee for each cancellation will apply.

Course Description

The village of Mata Ortiz sits in a river valley along a tributary of the Casas Grandes River in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, Mexico.  The people of Mata Ortiz today know all of these stories well, but to the outside world, Mata Ortiz is well known as a “village of potters.” Largely because of its highly regarded pottery, Mata Ortiz is today quite distinct from its past, a place of hope, creativity, individuality, and dogged determinism that embodies the best of the human spirit.

This course will explore the Mata Ortiz Pottery making process. From the history, teachings, techniques, materials, tools, and experiments, you will emerge in the Mata Ortiz culture and pottery making process. Class discussions will include:

• History and how the art of Mata Ortiz has evolved

• Materials and tools – gathering and experimentation

• Building a pot

• The designs – hand painting techniques

• Making it permanent – the baking process 

Porfirio Mora represents the pottery tradition of Mata Ortiz, a small village in Chihuahua, Mexico, known for its talented potters. Mata Ortiz pottery is inspired by the ancient Paquimé culture, which shares many similarities with southwestern Pueblo cultures. Master potter Porfirio learned how to prepare the clay and the pigments, along with other basic techniques, from a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation.

This course is limited to 20 participants.

Course Format

Classes will be held in English & Spanish. The instructor will facilitate in Spanish with live English translators present. Translation services are provided by Southwest Folk Alliance. 

Registered community members will meet with Master Potter Porfirio "Pilo" Mora for four in-person sessions on the following Fridays from 9 to 11 AM: March 18, 25, April 1 and 8.

Registration

Online registration for this course opens on Monday, December 6, 2021, at 10 a.m.

Refunds

Refunds are available and need to be requested before the second class meeting (March 25). To drop a class, please contact Stephanie Noriega at 520-626-0626 or sbs-communitymatters@email.arizona.edu.  A $25 administrative fee for each cancellation will apply. 

Location & Parking

Class meets at Tucson Museum of Art located at 140 N Main Ave, Tucson, AZ 85701 

The following parking options are available:

• Free TMA parking lot: From Main Avenue turn east on Washington Street, then turn right into the lot. Accessible parking is available.
• Metered street parking available around the Museum
• El Presidio Parking Garage, 160 W. Alameda Street (south side of street, ramp descends to underground parking), closed on weekends. The Museum does not validate parking for this garage.

Course Description

Today basic survival for most of us means regular trips to the supermarket or the hardware store. But imagine living in the Sonoran Desert five hundred years ago. Everything you needed came from right here. This in-person two-part course explores local fiber resources and individual plant species ancient native peoples of the Sonoran Desert, as well as many modern ethnic groups such as Tohono O'odham, Yaqui, Mayo, Guarijio, Seri, Pai Pai, have traditionally used. Participants will be inspired and encouraged to experiment with ethnobotanical materials to make their own cordage at home and discover materials and tools they might encounter in their own backyards or neighborhoods.

Join Desert Museum’s Research Associate and recipient of the Southwestern Folklife Alliance Master-Apprentice Award Jesús García and explore the variety of fibers used by native peoples in the Sonoran Desert region. Come away with a new view of the desert's hidden fibers and some great sense of place activities to share with others.

This course is limited to 20 participants.

This workshop is offered in partnership with Southwest Folklife Alliance.

Course Format

Registered community members will meet with Jesús García in two in-person sessions on the following Fridays from 9 to 11 AM: November 5 and 12.

Registration

Online registration for this course opens on Monday, August 16, 2021, at 10 a.m.

Refunds

Refunds are available and need to be requested before the second class meeting (November 11). To drop a class, please contact us at 520-626-6694 or sbs-communitymatters@email.arizona.edu.  A $25 administrative fee for each cancellation will apply. 

Location & Parking

Class meets at Mission Gardens at 946 W Mission Ln, Tucson, AZ 85745  

Street parking is available

Course Description

The original inhabitants of the village of Schuk-Shon the Desert people, or Tohono O’odham) have women baskets for thousands of years, most commonly not making distinctions between a basket’s utilitarian purpose and its aesthetic qualities. The result of this deep ancestral knowledge are extraordinary, deceptively simple and at the same time complex, cultural products that carry more than wood, water, or food. In this three-part workshop, a mother and daughter duo of Tohono O’odham basket master weavers will demonstrate and teach how handmade baskets using Native plants such as Yucca, Beargrass, and Devils Claw form part of the Tohono O’odham constellation of regional cultural treasures. In addition to sharing historical information about basketry, the workshop will teach hands-on preparation of basket materials, including the careful regulations and stewardship of Desert resources, and will give participants the opportunity to try their hand at basic basket weaving techniques taught under the tutelage of a respected tradition bearer.

This course is limited to 20 participants.

This workshop is offered in partnership with Southwest Folklife Alliance.

Course Format

Registered community members will meet with Regina and Megan Siquieros in three in-person sessions on the following Saturdays from 10 AM to Noon: September 18, 25 and October 2.

Registration

Online registration for this course opens on Monday, August 16, 2021, at 10 a.m.

Refunds

Refunds are available and need to be requested before the second class meeting (September 25). To drop a class, please contact us at 520-626-6694 or sbs-communitymatters@email.arizona.edu.  A $25 administrative fee for each cancellation will apply. 

Location & Parking

Class meets at Mission Gardens at 946 W Mission Ln, Tucson, AZ 85745   

Street parking is available.

Course Description

Today basic survival for most of us means regular trips to the supermarket or the hardware store. But imagine living in the Sonoran Desert five hundred years ago. Everything you needed came from right here. This virtual two-part course explores local fiber resources and individual plant species ancient native peoples of the Sonoran Desert as well as many modern ethnic groups such as Tohono O'odham, Yaqui, Mayo, Guarijio, Seri, Pai Pai have traditionally used. Participants will be inspired and encouraged to experiment with ethnobotanical materials to make their own cordage at home and discover materials and tools they might encounter in their own backyards or neighborhoods.

Join Desert Museum’s Research Associate and recipient of the Southwestern Folklife Alliance Master- Apprentice Award Jesús García and explore the variety of fibers used by native peoples in the Sonoran Desert region. Come away with a new view of the desert's hidden fibers and some great sense of place activities to share with others.

Attendance & Participation

This course will be delivered via the University of Arizona Zoom platform. The two class sessions will be LIVE ONLINE and will be recorded. The recordings will be shared with registered students after each session to facilitate access for those who cannot make the live sessions.

Registration

Online registration for this course is now open. After registration participants will receive instructions about how to access the course online. 

Refunds

Refunds are available and need to be requested before or by February 4. To drop a class, please contact Kerstin Miller at 520-621-5111 or kbmiller@email.arizona.edu. A $25 administrative fee for each cancellation will apply.

This two-part workshop explores the history and present of chocolate production, from its natural origins in the jungles of Amazonia and Central America, via first domestication in Mesoamerica, to its spread around the world via colonialism, imperialism and capitalism. Dr. Benjamin Lawrance will consider the pre-historical processes of domestication of Theobroma cacao and contemporary agribusiness production. Dr. Ryan Kashanipour will shed light on the ethnobotanical properties of the plant and the magico-religious significance of cacao to ancient Mesoamerican cultures, the cooptation of cocoa by European civilizations, and the spread of cocoa production around the world. Dr. Silvana Martini will provide an introduction to the processes of refinement and confection of chocolate, and highlight new developments toward the marketing and sustainability of global production. Over two weeks, we will learn processing techniques and taste raw cacao much like ancient Mayans; we will imbibe the cocoa beverages of 14^th century Aztecs and 18^th century French aristocrats; and we will sample new chocolate confections celebrating the global diversity of industrial and artisanal production.

Registered participants will have the opportunity to purchase optional chocolate boxes for the tastings. The price of those chocolate boxes ($40 incl. shipping) is not included in the tuition.

To purchase the optional chocolate kit, please click here.

SCHEDULE

Week One: Discovery and Globalization

Introduction to course (Lawrance)

Mesoamerican Domestication, Religion, and Culture (Kashanipour) pairing: beans

Chocolate, Sugar and the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (Lawrance) pairing: nibs

Cultivation, Harvesting, Fermentation and Processing (Martini) pairing: chocolate liquor

Tasting & Processing: Raw Cocoa nibs; Refined chocolate; Creating cocoa paste; Aztec chocolātl; Spanish hot chocolate

Week Two: Refinement and Mass Consumption

The Invention of Modern Chocolate (Kashanipour) pairing: sweet chocolate

Cocoa Production and the Developing World (Lawrance) pairing: dark chocolate

Modern Confectionary Manufacture (Martini) pairing: cocoa butter and cocoa powder

Tasting & Processing: Refined chocolate; Baking with chocolate; New chocolate inventions

Attendance & Participation

This workshop will be delivered via the University of Arizona Zoom platform. The two class sessions will be LIVE ONLINE and will be recorded. The recordings will be shared with registered students after each session to facilitate access for those who cannot make the live sessions.

Registration

Online registration for this workshop is now open. After registration participants will receive instructions about how to access the workshop online. 

Refunds

Refunds are available and need to be requested before or by November 12. To drop a class, please contact Kerstin Miller at 520-621-5111 or sbs-communitymatters@email.arizona.edu. A $25 administrative fee for each cancellation will apply.

Tucson and the Sonoran Desert offer a rich and celebrated history of foodways and food resilience. Our culinary achievements include food made with indigenous desert ingredients from the hottest months to foods from the colonial period to dishes brought here by immigrants and refugees adapting to local conditions and availability.

We invite you to join us for a three–part course presented in collaboration with Tucson Meet Yourself. This course is hosted by Chef Liane Hernandez and features three Tucson culture bearers from the annual Tucson Meet Yourself Culture Kitchen, Tanisha Tucker, Dr. Michael Engs, and Dr. Barbara Eiswerth, celebrating local, regional, and global foodways. Working alongside other cooks and food preparers in the kitchen is where Hernandez says she has learned the most about life, love, passion, and victory.

Each of the three cooks will offer a live food demonstration and conversation, previously recorded according to social safety protocols in the kitchen of Mission Garden.  Course participants will interact via Zoom with Hernandez and her guests and will receive recipes electronically to help them replicate the foods prepared.

Schedule

September 28: Cooking demonstration by Tanisha Tucker

Tanisha runs a generations-old saguaro fruit harvesting camp in Saguaro National Park, drawing from family wisdom to share desert harvesting and food preparation from the Tohono O'odham tradition.

October 5: Cooking demonstration by Dr. Michael Engs, Arizona Heritage Tours

Michael brings to the kitchen the lesser known contributions of African-descent people who first reached the Southwest in 1538 through events related to Spanish exploration, conquest, and settlement. Some came involuntarily as enslaved people, others as free adventurers and entrepreneurs. A second wave came by way of the western expansion of the United States military and left an imprint on the cuisine of the so-called Western “frontier.”

October 12: Cooking Demonstration by Dr. Barbara Eiswerth, Iskashitaa Refugee Network.

New Tucsonans who arrive in our City from all over the world help us refine the definition of a "food resource,” explaining "hunger foods," and adapting to hotter Sonoran summers. Through their unique and varied food preservation techniques, they work together to use unharvested fruit from backyards and rescued vegetables from the border transit industry.

Attendance & Participation

This course will be delivered via the University of Arizona Zoom platform. The three class sessions will be LIVE ONLINE and will be recorded. The recordings will be shared with registered students after each session to facilitate access for those who cannot make the live sessions.

Registration

Online registration for this course is now open. After registration participants will receive instructions about how to access the course online. 

Refunds

Refunds are available and need to be requested before or by October 4. To drop a class, please contact Kerstin Miller at 520-621-5111 or sbs-communitymatters@email.arizona.edu. A $25 administrative fee for each cancellation will apply.

In this experiential cultural immersion you will learn to observe, make, and understand natural structures through the lens of the tradition bearers who conserve them. Master adobe maker and conservator, David Yubeta, a recent recipient of the Southwest Folklife Alliance Master Apprentice Award, will lead students through a robust narrative of adobe and its use in southwestern architecture and life. Participants will learn to identify adobe structures (first session), make adobe bricks for building (second session), and learn about the wide ranging conservation efforts master adobe makers engage in (third session). The first two sessions meet at the Valley of the Moon-Adobe and Conservation Project in Tucson, while the last session will take place at Tumacacori National Historical Park.

This workshop is limited to 15 participants. The location and times for each session vary by week:

• February 29: 9:30 a.m. -11:30 a.m.
  Valley of the Moon- Adobe and Conservation Project: 2544 E. Allen Rd.
   
• March 7: 9:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m.
  Valley of the Moon- Adobe and Conservation Project: 2544 E. Allen Rd.
   
• March 21: 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
  Tumacacori National Historic Park (50 miles south of Tucson)

This workshop is offered in partnership with Southwest Folklife Alliance. 

*Please note that the Southwest Folklife Alliance will provide three scholarships to emerging adobe makers, students, conservationists, or teachers. For more information, please contact Nelda Ruiz at nruiz33@email.arizona.edu.

Registration

Online registration for this course opens on Thursday, November 21, 2019, at 10 a.m.

Refunds are available and need to be requested before the second class meeting (March 7). To drop the workshop, please contact Kerstin Miller at 520-621-5111 or sbs-communitymatters@email.arizona.edu. A $25 administrative fee for each cancellation will apply.

Join Dr. Doug Smith, anthropologist, Arizona native, and owner of Tucson’s Exo Roast Co. in this five week online course and learn about all things mezcal. In recent years, mezcal has risen to the top of the craft spirits world.  Its heritage, its artisanality, its complexity—these qualities draw people in search of “authenticity.”  Mezcal’s expansion into export markets has provided economic opportunity to some of Mexico’s most marginalized people, especially in neglected rural, and often indigenous, zones.  Meanwhile, that same expansion has raised questions about environmental sustainability and social justice. 

Dr. Smith and some of the most important figures in the agave spirits universe will introduce participants to the world of mezcal.  Course topics will include:  the botany and geography of mezcal’s denomination of origin, the history of agave spirits, the culture of mezcal production and consumption in Mexico, typical production techniques in different areas, and the shifting, sometimes contradictory legal framework designed to protect mezcal’s integrity in the market.  So that participants may explore the diversity of mezcal itself, each two-hour class will feature a tasting!  Interested participants will order specially prepared tasting kits on Thursdays at Exo’s website and pick them up on Fridays before class.

Please note that the course tuition does NOT include the price of the tasting kits.

Readings and Syllabus

Schroeder, James. Understanding Mezcal. ISBN-10: 0692171088. ISBN-13: 978-0692171080.

Other readings will be uploaded to Box@UA and the link will be shared with registered participants.

Registration

Online registration for this course opens on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, at 10 a.m.

Refunds are available and need to be requested before or by June 4. To drop a class, please contact Kerstin Miller at 520-621-5111 or sbs-communitymatters@email.arizona.edu. A $25 administrative fee for each cancellation will apply.