Any copywriter can slap a “world-renowned” label on a restaurant, hotel or historic site and hope it someday comes true. But in Tucson’s case, the world came knocking to recognize this metropolis tucked among five Southwest mountain ranges. The city was the first in the United States (San Antonio is the only other) to be recognized internationally by UNESCO (arbiter of World Heritage Sites such as Cambodia’s Angkor) as a Creative City of Gastronomy. And in 2018, the James Beard Foundation lauded a local hot dog.
That legacy, covering 4,000 years of continuous cultivation, drew our crew, made up of both Arizonans and friends from across the country. We designed a road trip that traversed from the mountains on the edge of town to downtown food carts in search of what the world sees in Tucson. In kitchens and beyond, we discovered how easy it is to make every day a cross-cultural tasting flight. Tucson is the kind of town that invites you to spread your morning toast with prickly pear jelly, spend the afternoon reflecting in a 220-year-old church and toast the sunset with watermelon-infused tequila.
The mountainside pool at the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa provides a cool overlook of the city and surrounding Sonoran Desert. Follow along on our road trip by clicking through the slideshow below.