The month-long Pueblos del Miz (Corn City) kicks off with a four-day festival in Tucson from Thursday, May 4 to Sunday, May 7, followed by Merida, Mexico and San Antonio, Texas the following weekend. , go to Puebla. , Mexico, his two weekends at the end of May.

Tucson, San Antonio and Merida are UNESCO Cities of Gastronomy, and Puebla is part of the delice network. According to Délice, Tucson is also part of his Délice, which works with cities around the world that “see food and gastronomy as a boost to urban economic development and urban attractiveness.” website.

All four festivals focus on maize, aka maize, an important staple in the history of common cuisine and culture.

“It’s one of the staples of the region,” says James Beard Award-winning Tucson chef Janos Wilder. “Corn is where he has been growing it for 5,000 years.

Throughout his 40-year career, Wilder was known for incorporating corn into dishes at every award-winning restaurant. These include his namesake French-inspired bistro and Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails, the last restaurant to close a decade later due to the pandemic.

Wilder leads a team of chefs including: Si Charo Executive Chef Gary Hickey, Bata/Riley’s Craft Pizza and Drinks 6-Course Chef-Owner Tyler Fenton and Chefs from San Antonio and Merida “Noche de Maiz Dinner” Carriage House, 125 S. Arizona Ave, Downtown.

Wilder said each chef takes a course and applies their own interpretation and corn celebration. He said it’s still a work in progress.

Dinner on Thursdays from 7pm to 10pm Tucson City of Gastronomy and Tucson’s Gastronomic Union (GUT) and The Carriage House, which Si Charro took over from Wilder a few years ago. Tickets are $200 per person.

Doors open at 6 p.m., and guests can see a new photo exhibition by Puebla Award-winning photographer and journalist Andrés Lovato. This photographic exhibition documents some of the living traditions and rituals that celebrate the important role of maize in the Puebla region where it was first grown. Thousands of years ago, according to the organizers of the event. A robot is stationed at the venue.

Other events on Thursday include a free Popul Vuh and Maya storytelling event at 5 p.m. at the Tucson Museum of Art at 140 N. Main Ave. Native Seeds/SEARCH tour, 3584 E. River Road (from $15 nativeseeds.org), which will also be available on Friday.happy hour Borderlands Brewing119 E. Toole Ave., 4-6pm, tasting a special beer made for Pueblo Del Mize using 60-day Tohono O’odham corn grown on San Xavier Corp Farm can.

Ethnobiologist César Ojeda Linares will visit the Tucson Museum of Art’s Stonewall Community Room at 175 N. Meyer Ave.

TMA will join Tucson chefs and restaurateurs Wendy Garcia (Tumérico and La Chaiteria), Analeigh Guzman (El Antojo Poblano), Juan Alamanza (El Taco Rustico), and It also sets the stage for the Bocadito Dinner Experience, featuring chefs such as Devon. Sanner (Zio Peppe), Tyler Fleming (The Coronet), Ahydée Almazán (Dolce Pastello), Mary Steiger and Susan Fulton (Gourmet Girls Gluten Free). The chef makes small plates. The cost is $75 per person and includes 10 small plates and a Pueblos del Mize beer from Borderlands Brewer made for the festival.

On Saturday, Maze Fiesta will be held at Kennedy Park featuring live music from Los Upson, Gerty & The TO Boys, Los Hermanos Quattro, Maria Paula Mazon, DJ G and MC Raul Aguirre.

Wilder said, “This is just a big celebration.

In addition to live music, the fiesta includes cooking demonstrations, children’s events hosted by the Pima County Public Library, and a large number of mostly minority-owned vendors.

The festival concludes on Sunday with a concert with La Sonora Dinamita. rialto theater Hosted by Pueblo del Miz, Agave Heritage Festival and Tucson International Mariachi Festival. The doors of the Rialto (318 E. Congress St.) open at 7am for an all-ages show. Tickets are $30.50. pueblosdelmaiz.com.