Sonoran Desert Foods and Living: A Cookbook

Eat Mesquite and More celebrates the native food forests of the Sonoran Desert and beyond, featuring over 170 recipes that showcase a wide range of wild, indigenous foods, including mesquite, acorn, barrel cactus, chiltepin, cholla, desert chia, desert herbs and flowers, desert ironwood, hackberry, palo verde, prickly pear, saguaro, wolfberry, and wild greens. The recipes, contributed by desert dwellers, harvesters, chefs, and innovators, capture a spirit of adventure and reverence, inviting both newcomers and seasoned experts to try new foods and experiment with new flavors.

More than just a cookbook, this guide encourages a renaissance of "wild agriculture," one that focuses on the ethical harvesting and selection of wild foods, as well as the re-planting of native food sources in urban and residential areas without the need for imported water or fertilizers. The book contains stories of significant individuals, organizations, and businesses that have contributed knowledge, products, and innovation in the planting, harvesting, and use of wild, native desert foods.

Additional essays reveal the poetry of the foraging life, the art of planting the rain, and the medicinal uses and ethnobotanical histories of desert plants. Many of the food plants included in this cookbook, or their close relatives, can be found or grown in other deserts and drylands of North and South America, making this book a valuable resource for harvesting and cooking throughout the Americas.

Universally, the concepts and approach presented in this book can help communities everywhere collaborate with their ecosystem, while enhancing the health of all. By highlighting the abundance and versatility of wild, native foods, Eat Mesquite and More encourages a deeper connection to the land and a more sustainable way of living.

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