Phoenix is ​​a place in transition. This is one of the fastest growing metropolitan cities in the country, so the barrier to entry here is low, but it also appears to have ceilings.

Some of the most influential people here make their mark and then leave. They bump into the ceiling and head towards the green meadow. This is the grey area explored in the series’ exit interviews, and Arizonan slates stick it out with their staying power.

But now some of the people who left have returned.

Complete conversation

Lauren Gilger: Do you miss us?

Tamara Stanger: Oh, I always knew I was going to finally come back. There’s something special about Arizona.

She built a career in the Valley, where she climbed a restaurant chain, eventually opening her own spot, cotton and copper, to Tempe, working to define Arizona cuisine in the process.

She is known for using native desert materials. You can find everything around you in her food. She once looked for me for the Mesquite pod in Papago Park. However, when the pandemic hit, her restaurant was closed and she worked as a grown-up job in Utah.

“It was strange to be somewhere else with snow,” Stanger said.

In an interview with her exit, she said she didn’t want to leave Phoenix. She felt like she had no other options. But now she’s back.

This time at Flagstaff. She was at the helm at Shift, a small restaurant that has received great acclaim since its opening in 2016.

Stanger: It’s a culture and it’s something to grow. It does something fever has gone crazy on you. I don’t know. Me, I missed the food. I missed many projects I had worked on before.

And it feels like I’ve never skipped a beat back. I just go back to it and feel ready to continue rediscovering what Arizona is and what it means to me.

Gilger: Yeah, yeah, from a new perspective, I guess, right? For example, you’ve been one of these chefs here for a long time and have really worked to identify and create definitions of what Arizona cuisine is or what it was. Please tell us about your time in Utah. What did it help you learn on that mission?

Stanger:I grew up in Utah, so it’s like my identity for why I understand food and why certain types of food are important to me because I grew up in the mountains did. I think the food surrounding you, that’s what you eat, and that’s what matters to you. So going back to that was like really defining who I am, but I’ve learned more about sustainability over the past few years.

I’ve been raising chickens, but since you know and grow food, I’ll still do so before I rely on farmers, but it’s really cool to understand that too , this is the food I prepared on the ground. I planted the seeds, I grew it. Now I’m growing it. Now I’m giving it to you. Your scrap is back to me. I’m feeding it to the chickens. These eggs like to go back to you and cycle. That’s what I think was missing before.

And it’s really cool to do it now, and now I have a pretty deep understanding of where I can take this food to another level, you know, it’s deep Arizona And while these are clearly growing here, I am also involved in the growing process now, not just in the harvest process.

Gilger: That’s really cool, yeah, a lot of what you did in Arizona as a chef was harvesting and foraging those native ingredients. Because I’ve asked this question before, just like Arizona tastes. Have your perception of that changed, and you know, how it is, how it tastes, what Utah is experiencing, for example.

Stanger:Yes, Utah and Arizona are very different. So Utah clearly has a really old native connection. And they really changed everything. Just as it changed what the food is.

They took it from many native ideas and made it their own. Arizona seemed like a trade route. People went through. And it was a lot of indigenous people. But you know, when the train was built in Utah, and in that way, we got a lot of the Asians who came down, and they did most of the farming.

Arizona has a truly distinctive Asian cuisine. And then there were many people coming out of Mexico and coming out of deeper South America, and they swapped food. However, I don’t think Arizona Southwest is the same as New Mexico Southwest. It’s not the same as Texas Tex-Mex. The southwest is not the same as Baja California. It has a distinctive flavor, its flavor is very native, it is very old, it is old, it tells a story about the desert.

When I speak to farmers in my home country they teach me to understand the desert you have to listen to. And every plant, every mountain, every valley has a song. And that’s how you find food. And it’s like, by really understanding the planet, it helps you understand the food you’re eating. It’s not just going to the grocery store and buying the most beautiful produce you can see.

It’s like taking this ingredient, how do you respect this ingredient in many ways? How did people respect that in the past? Also, what can we do in the future when the climate continues to heat up, how do we maintain our food and feed people? That’s a big deal, part of Arizona.

Gilger: I wanted to ask about that, but I wanted to ask about the reality of climate change that we have lived in Arizona now. You are in Flagstaff now so I hope the heat isn’t too big because of what you’re doing on the shift, but it’s dry so there’s little rain and there’s not much snow this year To the point. We see these real-world impacts of our state’s changing environment very realistically. What do you think that means for the food here? What do you think that means to what you’re trying to do?

Stanger:That affects us, especially as Arizona means that it already faces a lot of water shortages. And I think the idea is that we need to accept certain types of food that require dry farming so that it doesn’t require a lot of water. More fruits can be grown in this area. Therefore, learning to grow more fruit trees, spread them, and eat these types of foods and incorporate them into your diet is a great way to save us in the future.

There are still so many in the area that grow like berries, including wild grapes, wild cherries, and apples. There are a lot of things here. One thing that should be embraced is what sustainable is still here when the water is not that abundant.

Gilger: Yeah, please join us on the shift and tell us about being with Flagstaff in this different part of Arizona. So far, what kind of traditional ingredients have you pulled into your food? What are you excited to explore?

Stanger:Well, it’s a very incredible place, but as I love working with rabbits, there are plenty of plans to bring some types of meat. And certainly mesquite. I have already started using different types of corn. Luckily, I have juniper more than ever since there are so many junipers in the area where I live, the wild yeast of juniper berry makes sourdough and quickly Natural vitamins and minerals in the plant are really good to ferment and burn branches that support everything.

And it’s really great to use wood ash… enrich it with calcium and other things that aren’t normally available in food. It’s one thing to put on the menu right away, as I love the incorporation of wood ash into food. Lots of restaurants are creating truly amazing food that does a really great job. I think I have a format here to really lead Arizona to photography, but I don’t know.

Me, I come in as a white belt. I said, “I know what I’m doing. I’ll take over.” I said, “Hey, I have something to offer you, I’ll quietly and loudly, my I’m going to find a place.’ And I think Flagstaff is ready.