Commission backs $21,000 in bed-tax support for Arizona Indigenous Culinary Experience

The Tourism Development Commission voted May 20 to recommend up to $21,000 in bed-tax funding to support the Arizona Indigenous Culinary Experience (ACE), an event and year-round journalism and programming initiative that highlights tribal foodways and indigenous culinary traditions.

Jeffrey Lasos Ferns, founder and producer of the Arizona Indigenous Culinary Experience, told commissioners the program is in its twelfth year nationally and eighth year in Scottsdale and is a hybrid effort combining a November public tasting event with year-round media outreach to food journalists and cultural travelers. Lasos Ferns said ACE works with tribal tourism departments and curates chefs from northern, central and southern Arizona tribes to present ancestral ingredients in contemporary formats.

“Hosting the Arizona Indigenous Culinary Experience in Scottsdale can bring several key benefits to the city: cultural enrichment, tourism boosts, promotion of indigenous heritage, economic impact and community engagement,” Lasos Ferns said, noting recent national coverage and partnerships with Smithsonian Magazine and Conde Nast for prior promotions and tastings.

Commissioners and the presenter discussed partners and sponsors; Lasos Ferns said prior partners have included Experience Scottsdale, the Arizona Office of Tourism, regional media outlets and tribal entities such as the Tohono O'odham Nation and Desert Diamond Casinos. The requested $21,000 was described as primarily for paid advertising and production elements.

A commissioner moved and another seconded approval; the commission voted to recommend the expenditure to city council.