Local Author and Ethnobotanist Wins a James Beard Award

The James Beard Foundation announced the winners of the 2024 James Beard Media Awards in Chicago on June 8. The awards, often referred to as the “Oscars of the food world,” recognized top food authors, broadcast producers, hosts, journalists, podcasters, and social media content creators.

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The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcals with Gary Nabhan

What’s shakin, cocktail fans? Welcome to Episode 265 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast! This time around, we’re joined by author and ethnobotanist Gary Nabhan to explore some of the most important and pressing issues facing agave spirits enthusiasts and mezcaleros. In this botanically diverse conversation with ethnobotanist and author

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Owner of Tequilas Restaurant explores mezcal and the environmental implications of its new popularity

Mezcal is a centuries-old spirit with roots in ancient Mexican culture. Agave, the succulent that is roasted and mashed to create mezcal, even had its own Aztec goddess; Mayahuel, in folklore, fed the plant's sap to her 400 children, known as the Centzon Tōtōchtin, or "drunken bunnies."

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When is a Century Plant not a Century Plant and Mezcal not a Mezcal?

Mezcal literally means “agave plant” (metl) plus “pit-roasted or baked (calli). In Agave Spirits, we daylight the fact that most margaritas sold in the US are still using mix to tequilas, which can be up to 49% high fructose sugars from plants other than agaves, so they are neither mezcal

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Agave Spirits is Now Available in Bookstores and Online

After four years of collaborating, interviewing, digging deep into archives & traveling to remote parts of Mexico, our wonderfully-designed book from W.W, Norton is now out in the stores! What we are happy about is that the dozen drawings by Rene Tapia beautifully capture the Mesoamerican and Aridamerican traditions of caring

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