Carolyn Niethammer's Books

Thank you for stopping by my Web site. On the left of every page are links to my books where you can find a description, the Table of Contents and reviews of each of the books. Click on the title and you'll find the full description. While I've spent decades writing nonfiction books about the food and culture of the Southwest, my latest is a novel delving into the tumultuous years of the early 1970s. I was right in the middle of it. Were you? 

In 1970, Christie left behind the comforts of L.A. and joined a New Age commune in rural Arizona. With the Vietnam War raging and the counterculture movement in full swing, she hoped to find her place in the world and create a better society. But building a new culture is no easy task, especially when free love, psychedelics, and a war protest gone horribly wrong are thrown into the mix.

If you're a fan of the Woodstock generation, or simply curious about the counterculture of the 1960s, this book will transport you back to this tumultuous era.

Put on your tie-dyed shirt and come to Bella Vida as the friends try to change the rules of modern society, then face the repercussions when middle age sets in.

A Desert Feast, Celebrating Tucson's Culinary History is a food pilgrimage, full of stories and recipes stretching back thousands of years to the earliest residents of the Santa Cruz Valley, tracing the influences of Native American, Mexican, mission-era Mediterranean, and ranch-style cowboy traditions. You'll read how the earliest farmers first learned to grow corn beginning in 2100 BC, where the Hohokam built elaborate their elaborate irrigation canals, and how the arrival of the Spanish changed everything.

More than 100 photographs show everything from  the edible wild plants that fed the earliest inhabitants to pictures of today's kids learning to grow food at school. You'll meet some of Tucson's farmers, small-scale food entrepreneurs, and chefs from restaurants to food trucks who are dedicated to growing and using heritage foods. You'll even visit beer brewers who are using local wild foods to give local flavor to their beer.

 Profusely and beautifully illustrated throughout with full color photography of people, places, and culinary products, "A Desert Feast: Celebrating Tucson's Culinary Heritage" is an extraordinary feast for the mind and palate. While especially and unreservedly recommended for both community and college/university library Southwestern American Food History & Cookbook collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "A Desert Feast: Celebrating Tucson's Culinary Heritage" is also readily available in a digital book format.

Come with me through the magic of video to visit some historic Tucson places that showcase historic food and three artisan producers of today's delicious products with that special Tucson flavor.

To visit The Mission Garden on the exact spot where farmers have been growing crops for thousands of years, click here.

Visit The Tucson Presidio where the Spanish soldiers arrived in 1776. Click here.

Click here to join prickly pear entrepreneur Cheri Romanoski as she makes candy and syrup in her factory.

We visit Amy to see what herbs and spices go into the Mole y Metate mole sauce mixes.

Craft beer gets Tucson flavor from local ingredients at Catalina Brewing Company. Visit with the brewer.

What people are saying: 

"Just received this absolute treasure! The wonderful stories and foodways accounts, not to mention local producers, make this an instant heirloom and everyday delight. Every food lover and food historian must get a copy of this marvel!"  -- John F Swenson

Wow, an uplifting book about good being done in the community around us. I needed that. How often does one find a book about how neighborhoods here in Tucson, and all over this country, make fresh food available and teach kids to garden too? Whether you live in Tucson or not, A DESERT FEAST is a marvelous read. I highly recommend it.

 Carol O'Donnell-Knych

Awards

A Desert Feast: Celebrating Tucson's Culinary History is the recipient of four awards: Top Pick in the Southwest Books of the Year, Silver Award in the Independent Publisher Awards, A PubWest book design award, and Finalist in the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards.

There's always something new to explore and to write about and it can't wait for a book. I share a blog with four other Southwestern food enthusiasts. We take turns writing through the month on edible wild plants and herbs, traditional agriculture crops, garden products, bees and chickens, and local spices. If you wish to learn more about the exciting world of Southwest cuisine, please join us here. I've known most of my blogmates for years, but every week I learn something new from them.

I am available to give talks and demonstrations related to my books.

A Desert Feast: Celebrating Tucson's Culinary Heritage. Learn why Tucson was named the first U.S. UNESCO City of Gastronomy. A lively lecture will take you through 6,000 years of food history, from the first hunter-gatherers who roamed through the Santa Cruz River Valley to today's chefs who incorporate Tucson's heritage foods into their menus. You'll see how both children and adults are learning to garden and how local food manufacturers are using the area's produce to craft distinct products with the taste of Tucson. 

The New Southwest Cookbook, and Cooking the Wild Southwest all feature delicious recipes from top resort and restaurant chefs for both wild foods and regional domestically grown foods. Great new ideas for the age-old questions of what to have for dinner tonight. Would your group like a cooking class?

I'll Go and Do More: Annie Dodge Wauneka, Navajo Leader and Activist, was a finalist for the Willa Award. Now Keeping the Rope Straight the middle reader's version, is available from Salina Bookshelf. I am available for a talk entitled "American's Native American Women: The Ordinary and The Extraordinary," which includes a discussion of Annie Wauneka's life.