Edible Arizona : The discourse of foodways in the Sonoran Desert

Glen Michael Alessi Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy Edible Arizona : The discourse of foodways in the Sonoran desert Publications addressing sustainable regional culinary systems, along with 'Real' and 'Local' food movements have sprung up all over the United States. These "Edible Communities" publications exist in localized versions as quarterly magazines and websites represented in 85 regions. They address issues of producing, preparing, serving and promoting locally sourced food. The magazines include stories, interviews, recipes and writing about heritage foods, local ecologies, farming, marketing and locally sourced foods. In the state of Arizona, two distinct 'Edible Community' publications exist: Edible Phoenix and the award-winning Edible Baja Arizona; the latter covering the greater Tucson area into northern Sonora, Mexico. These two distinct areas have distinct histories, local cultures, identities, and politics. Phoenix is regarded widely as a politically conservative, displaced 'Midwestern' city, while Tucson (the only U.S. city to be named World City of Gastronomy by UNESCO) as a city which prides itself on its pre-statehood status, progressive values, and its Hispanic and Native traditions. These distinct identities may likewise be reflected in lifestyle choices and related perspectives, discussions and language choices regarding food, cuisine, sustainability and ecological issues. This work-in-progress takes these two Edible Communities publications as its starting point in investigating the breadth and depth of discourse surrounding regional food and culinary issues. Borrowing frameworks from critical genre analysis (Bhatia 2012) and corpus-assisted discourse studies (Partington 2012), it explores how these publications may (or may not) less-knowingly reveal marked local ideologies, regional values and distinct identities through language choices when discussing locally produced food and food culture.