Late Winter 2025: Shift

edible NEW MEXICO

®

THE STORY OF LOCAL FOOD, SEASON BY SEASON

ISSUE 95 LATE WINTER 2025 JANUARY / FEBRUARY

Shift

MEMBER OF EDIBLE COMMUNITIES

radishandrye.com 505.930.5325

Pomegranates, photo by Stephanie Cameron.

Deb Haaland holding squash seeds at La Plazita Gardens, photo by Lonnie Anderson. Story on page 80.

LATE WINTER 2025 ∙ JANUARY / FEBRUARY DEPARTMENTS 2

GRIST FOR THE MILL

by Briana Olson and Robin Babb

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CONTRIBUTORS

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LOCAL HEROES

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IN THE KITCHEN

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La Boca, Indigenous Farm Hub, Myles Lucero, and New Mexico Ferments Sour Milk School

by Sarah Wentzel-Fisher

FERMENTI'S PARADOX Dry January in the Duke City

by Robin Babb

BACK OF HOUSE From Table to Farm

by Lynn Cline

FARMER'S TABLE Intentional Eating

by Shahid Mustafa

EDIBLE DISPATCH

Lobster Four Ways in Portland, Maine

by Stephanie Cameron

50 THE BITE

Out and About with The Bite

56 EDIBLE INGREDIENT Winter Panzanella

58 COOKING FRESH

ON THE COVER

edible NEW MEXICO

®

THE STORY OF LOCAL FOOD, SEASON BY SEASON

A Shift to Eating More Fish

by Stephanie Cameron

88 LAST CALL

Red Chile Simple Syrup

FEATURES 68 FARMS TOO SHALL PASS

As New Mexican Farmers Become Elders, Who Will Take Up Their Mantle--and Where?

by Sarah Mock

ISSUE 95 LATE WINTER 2025 JANUARY / FEBRUARY

Shift

MEMBER OF EDIBLE COMMUNITIES

Pomegranate, photo by Stephanie Cameron.

74 FROM POP-UP TO BRICK AND MORTAR

Three Culinary Entrepreneurs Open Their Doors

by Ungelbah Dávila

80 FROM THE STREET TO THE KITCHEN

Meet the People Cultivating Transformation Through Food

by Briana Olson

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ANNUAL CELEBRATION GUIDE

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GRIST FOR THE MILL

PUBLISHERS

Shift

Turquoise mined from the earth represents the sky—brilliant in New Mexico even in January. The state necklace, known as squash blossom, was drawn from the blossom of a pomegranate, fruit that traveled from the Maghreb to Spain to Mexico to the Rio Grande Valley. The pomegranate symbolizes fertility because of its many seeds; it represents death because it is the fruit that bound Persephone to Hades, creating winter. Some say Persephone ate four seeds, some say seven; almost all agree that her marriage to Hades was a tale, a myth, devised to explain the mystery of the seasons, and a means to promise earth dwellers that spring and growth would come again.

Bite Size Media, LLC Stephanie and Walt Cameron

EDITOR

Briana Olson

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Robin Babb

COPY EDITORS

Marie Landau and Margaret Marti

DESIGN AND LAYOUT Stephanie Cameron

PHOTO EDITOR Stephanie Cameron

EVENT COORDINATOR

In this issue, tuning into the hidden fertility of the season, we celebrate shifts, renewal, transformation. In one feature, we learn about local culinary and garden programs sparking joy, change, and paychecks among some of the state’s least visible residents: those living on probation and in prison. In another, we highlight Albuquerque food pop-up businesses taking the leap to brick and mortar. Sarah Mock, writing of farm succession planning, finds ranchers and farmers considering the lives of land that will outlast them, and Lynn Cline follows radish scraps from a bowl of ramen to Reunity Resources’ compost pile.

Snowy slopes and wine festivals aside, winter also calls many of us inward. In sharing stories of shifts more personal in nature—a journey toward intentional eating, an exploration of socializing without alcohol—we inevitably consider how individual choices ripple outward. Local agriculture advocate Sarah Wentzel-Fisher invites us into the culture of cheesemaking, reporting on the potential embodied in New Mexico’s inaugural session of Sour Milk School. For the home kitchen, we offer fresh (and frozen) perspectives on cooking fish—and, as a bonus, a recipe for winter panzanella made with the fabled seeds of the granada, or pomegranate.

Today, thanks in part to an innovative culinary program, a man who spent most of the past thirteen years incarcerated stands free and clear in the kitchen at Escondido in Santa Fe, processing the fabled fruit for chiles en nogada. Nothing is static; no state of being is permanent. Whether with a tea-based mocktail or a glass of local wine, we invite you to join us in toasting to this delicious secret of winter.

Natalie Donnelly

PUBLISHING ASSISTANT Cristina Grumblatt

CONTACT US

info@ediblenm.com

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No part of this publication may be used without the written permission of the publisher. © 2025 All rights reserved.

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edible New Mexico | LATE WINTER 2025

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Stephanie and Walt Cameron, Publishers

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Robin Babb, Associate Editor

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Briana Olson, Editor

CONTRIBUTORS ROBIN BABB is the associate editor of edible New Mexico and The Bite. Previously, she was the food editor at the Weekly Alibi (RIP).

Robin is an MFA student in creative writing at the University of New Mexico. She lives in Albuquerque with a cat named Chicken and a dog named Birdie.

STEPHANIE CAMERON was raised in Albuquerque and earned a degree in fine arts at the University of New Mexico. She is the art director, head photographer, recipe tester, marketing guru, publisher, and owner of edible New Mexico and The Bite.

LYNN CLINE is the award-winning author of The Maverick Cookbook: Iconic Recipes and Tales From New Mexico. She’s written for Bon Appétit, the New York Times, New Mexico Magazine, and many other publications. She also hosts Cline’s Corner, a weekly talk show on public radio’s KSFR 101.1 FM. UNGELBAH DÁVILA lives in Valencia County with her daughter, animals, and flowers. She is a writer, photographer, and digital Indigenous storyteller.

SARAH MOCK is an agriculture and food writer, researcher, and podcaster, focusing on topics from farm production to ag history and economics. She’s written two books, Farm (and Other F Words) and Big Team Farms. Her current project, The Only Thing That Lasts, is a podcast for Ambrook Research about the past, present, and future of American farmland. She lives in Albuquerque.

SHAHID MUSTAFA owns and runs Taylor Hood Farms, practicing regenerative organic agriculture on two acres in La Union and offering a CSA with home delivery. Through his nonprofit Developing Youth from the Ground Up/Sustain, he has worked with staff at Las Cruces High School to implement an environmental literacy curriculum and establish a one-acre plot where students receive credit for helping with all stages of vegetable production.

BRIANA OLSON is a writer and the editor of edible New Mexico and The Bite. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Houston, and one of her early editing gigs was for OpenLine, an anthology of work by students at what is now Mount Tamalpais College at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center. She lives in Albuquerque.

SARAH WENTZEL-FISHER is a committed champion of the local food movement and of resilient and regenerative agriculture.

She has worked as an organizer for the National Young Farmers Coalition, the editor of what is now edible New Mexico, and, for the past eight years, as the executive director of the Quivira Coalition.

Now joining the Thornburg Foundation, she also sits on the board of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance. In her free time, you can find her feeding pigs, turkeys, and cows, checking the compost pile, or weeding a patch of beans at Polk’s Folly Farm, where she lives.

Dishes at Buen Provecho, photo by Ungelbah Dávila.

Story on page 74.

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edible New Mexico | LATE WINTER 2025

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LOCAL HEROES An edible Local Hero is an exceptional individual, business, or organization making a positive impact on New Mexico’s food systems. These honorees nurture our communities through food, service, and socially and environmentally sustainable business practices.

Edible New Mexico readers nominate and vote for their favorite local chefs, growers, artisans, advocates, and other food professionals in two dozen categories.

Winners of the Olla and Spotlight Awards are nominated by readers and selected by the edible team.

Over the course of the year, we invite these Local

Episode 10: Croquettes and a Glass of Fino Sherry La Boca creates a tapas experience that makes you feel like you have been transported to the streets of Spain. In this episode, we talk with Chef James Campbell Caruso about tapas culture, travel to Spain, music, and sherries and how they play out at his restaurant.

Episode 11: Sustainable Food Systems The Indigenous Farm Hub engages Indigenous communities in creating a network of farmers and families to strengthen local and sustainable food systems.

In this episode, we are talking with Alan Brauer and Rebecca Grashuis about the impactful work they are doing and the search for the farmers of the future.

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edible New Mexico | LATE WINTER 2025

Heroes to share their stories and visions for the local foodshed on our podcast, 5-Minute Fridays. In every issue of edible, we share a taste of our conversations and links to the episodes.

New episodes drop every Friday—and no, no episode is actually give minutes. We have a blast while discovering new ways to think about and understand the food and drink that lands on our tables and getting to know the people who put it there.

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Episode 12: An Incubator for Native Chefs In this episode, Chef Myles Lucero talks about the ingredients that go into his dishes, and we discuss how Native ingredients have become staples in Italian, French, and many other cuisines.

His commitment to working with Native people on his team at Prairie Star Restaurant means that someday, we might see more Indigenous-owned and -run restaurants.

Episode 13: Singing to Giant SCOBYs New Mexico Ferments kombucha is served in 130-plus bars, restaurants, cafés, spas and shops around the state, and now they have expanded to the shelves of Albertsons. In this episode, we talk with Kara Deyhle about scaling up to meet demands and how they keep the same quality. And we can’t chat about kombucha without talking about the SCOBYs that make it possible.

Savor the season of rest and renewal.

Each winter, we take a cue from our fields and embrace a pause in the growing season. With radiant sunrises, peaceful walks along the Rio Grande Bosque, fireside cocktails and hearty, nourishing meals, winter at Los Poblanos is nothing short of magical.

Whether you’re planning a cozy getaway at the inn, setting an intentional tone for the new year with restorative treatments at the Hacienda Spa, or seeking an inspired culinary experience at Campo, we’d be honored to host you on the farm.

Recently recognized as a truly exceptional stay with two MICHELIN Keys, we are proud to offer luxurious accommodations, warm hospitality and a one-of-a-kind New Mexican experience.

Visit lospoblanos.com to book your stay, explore upcoming events and more.

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LOCAL HEROES

RESTAURANT, SANTA FE

La Boca

A Conversation with James Campbell Caruso, Chef and Owner

“W

e still love it eighteen years later, and we are still compelled to do it. We have always genuinely cared about people having a good time and sharing all the passion we have with them; that is part of our mission statement. And I have said if I don’t feel this way anymore, I won’t do this, but I still get excited about being here.”

Photo by Stephanie Cameron.

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edible New Mexico | LATE WINTER 2025

Celebrating 25 Years as a Mark Kiffin Restaurant

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photo: Kate Russell

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SUSTAINABILITY: CULTURAL PRESERVATION

Indigenous farm hub

A Conversation with Rebecca Grashuis, Farm-to-School Education Coordinator, and Alan Brauer, Senior Director

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here is something about learning by doing that is inherent in farming, and it is so metaphorical for almost anything you do in your life. You get excited when you plant a seed, and you see it emerge, and you see that miracle that happens when things start to grow. Then you see it as something you aren’t just feeding yourself, but you are feeding others, and that act of community and service is something that is really precious.”

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edible New Mexico | LATE WINTER 2025

Join us for Winter Dining!

• Be our guest for cozy, heated patio and restaurant dining all winter long.

• Indulge in Chef's Seven-Course "Omakase" Tasting Menus on Wednesday nights, January - March.

• Check out our Cookie Subscription January - May. See more and make your reservation at farmandtablenm.com

Photo by Stephanie Cameron.

LOCAL HEROES

CHEF, GREATER NEW MEXICO

Myles Lucero

A Conversation with Myles Lucero, Executive Chef, Prairie Star Restaurant

“T

aking the position at Prairie Star Restaurant was an opportunity for me to give back to the Native community. I wanted to work with the surrounding pueblos and put a spotlight on Native talent. The kitchen here is about ninety percent from the surrounding pueblos and villages. I teach them as much as I can, and hopefully, they will go their own way eventually or stay here and advance their careers.”

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edible New Mexico | LATE WINTER 2025

Unforgettable Serve Aged even more Aged Made with care Crafted in Spain

THE EXCELLENCE OF EUROPEAN D.O. CAVA AND JAMÓN CONSORCIOSERRANO

In a world that often prioritizes speed over substance, there remains proof that good things, and excellent taste, take time. D.O. Cava and Jamón ConsorcioSerrano are two such treasures, each representing a unique blend of Spanish tradition and taste created with time and perfected over centuries.

Cava has earned its place among the world’s finest sparkling wines, yet it remains wonderfully versatile. Whether paired with a simple salad, a casual meal or a celebratory toast, Cava brings a touch of elegance to every occasion. What makes Cava de Guarda Superior unique is that it is produced using the traditional method where secondary fermentation occurs in the bottle.

This meticulous process, lasting a minimum of 18 months, is carefully overseen by the D.O. Cava regulatory body, ensuring that each bottle upholds the highest standards of quality and authenticity. Made from organic vineyards that are over 10 years old, Cava de Guarda Superior reveals its craftsmanship with every pour. As the delicate, harmonious bubbles rise to the surface, you can truly appreciate the time and care it took to perfect them!

Similarly, Jamón ConsorcioSerrano is more than just a drycured ham. This exquisite product is made using traditional curing

methods which takes a minimum of 12 months to deliver a delicate and rich flavor. Each production is upheld to the rigorous standards of the Consorcio del Jamón Serrano Español, which ensures that every piece of Jamón ConsorcioSerrano bearing the seal is of exceptional quality. Like Cava, Jamón ConsorcioSerrano is not merely an accompaniment to festive tables; it is a versatile delight that can elevate everyday meals with its complex flavors and delicate texture.

Both Cava and Jamón ConsorcioSerrano are perfect examples of how time-honored craftsmanship, underpinned by the European Union’s commitment to quality and tradition, creates products that are unmatched in their category. They are not just crafted in Spain; they are perfected by time, offering a taste of excellence that is both accessible and extraordinary. Whether enjoyed on a special occasion or as part of your daily life, Cava and Jamón ConsorcioSerrano bring the best of Europe to your table.

Learn more on our website

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Spain. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

THE EUROPEAN UNION SUPPORTS CAMPAIGNS THAT PROMOTE HIGH QUALITY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.

Enjoy wine in moderation. Min. 11º Max. 12,5º

Crafted in Spain, perfected by time

LOCAL HEROES

Left to right: Tessa Frias (lead brewer), Kellie Hoppe (brewery production manager), Kara Deyhle (director), Carolyn Tiseo (communications officer), Erin Best (distribution representative), photo by Stephanie Cameron.

BEVERAGE ARTISAN, NONALCOHOLIC

New Mexico Ferments A Conversation with Kara Deyhle, Director

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his is our seventh year now, and we have slowly taken on new accounts, and over the years, we have grown organically. Now there is a desire for this kind of product in the market. And in just the last few months, we have been on the shelves at Albertsons, and we are super excited about that growth and getting out to the wider community.”

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Celebrations

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the perfect celebration, from venues to food.

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edible New Mexico | LATE WINTER 2025

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Edible New Mexico’s Celebration Guide

Kei & Molly Textiles make for a unique table setting and party favor that guests will cherish, photo by Alicia Lucia Photography.

New Mexico offers an incredible array of options for planning memorable events. Our diverse and stunning landscapes provide everything from intimate urban farms lush with greenery—perfect for hosting seasonal feasts—to unique settings in charming restaurants and hotels across the state. With flexible options for every budget, local vendors work with you to create events tailored to your vision.

To make planning even easier, we present edible New Mexico’s Celebration Guide—a thoughtfully curated list of vendors and venues designed to help you plan your next special gathering, wedding, or professional event.

Partnering with local vendors not only ensures a truly unique and personalized event but also strengthens New Mexico’s vibrant

community. Small, specialized vendors bring your ideas to life with care and expertise. Imagine the magic of a wedding bouquet filled with seasonal dahlias grown by a local flower farmer. Your visitors will be awed by a provisions table brimming with jams, pickles, salsas, bread, and honey, all crafted nearby to showcase the region’s distinctive flavors. A bar stocked with New Mexico’s finest wines, beers, and spirits adds an extra touch of local charm.

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Celebrate on the Farm!

Farm & Table has limited spots for your private event.

For guest lists of 40–80 people we can offer a chef's customized four-course dinner with beer, wine or non-alcoholic farm shrubs and plenty of add ons to make your event unique and memorable.

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IN THE KITCHEN

SOUR MILK SCHOOL Words and Photos by Sarah Wentzel-Fisher

Halloumi, a fresh Mediterranean cheese, shaped in baskets.

Early last spring, Zach came back from a long day at the Polk’s Folly Farmstand with the particular bounce he gets in his step when he’s scheming something that he is both excited about and finds a little outlandish. The question often starts, “What would you think about . . . ?”

This time the question was “What would you think about having fifteen people on the farm for a weeklong cheese school?”

While Polk’s Folly is a diversified livestock farm, we don’t milk any animals, nor do we make cheese.

An appreciative cheese lover, I looked at him with a raised eyebrow and responded, “Tell me more.”

The nascent New Mexico Cheese Guild, formed at the end of 2023, was looking for a farm to host an in-depth course on the art and science of cheesemaking. The guild’s mission is to promote and preserve the tradition of cheesemaking while fostering collaboration 24

edible New Mexico | LATE WINTER 2025

within the industry, and Lissa Knudsen, the guild board chair, had been in conversation with Trevor Warmedahl of the Sour Milk School about offering a workshop or two in New Mexico in the fall.

While hosting fifteen people and figuring out where we would source five gallons of fresh (ideally still warm) milk each day seemed a little daunting and unrealistic, we enthusiastically signed up to host a five-day workshop where Trevor would share his passion for natural methods of milk fermentation and cheesemaking.

In New Mexico, dairy contributes $2.2 billion directly and $4.2 billion indirectly to the state’s economy, yet we don’t really have a culture (pun intended) of making artisan cheese. The New Mexico dairy industry—and it is an industry, one of the largest and most consolidated in the country—produces almost 4 percent of the milk in the United States, on 107 dairies with an average of 2,700 cows each. Most

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Using a willow basket, Trevor Warmedahl demonstrates the preparation of queso fresco.

Native materials are often used to craft basket forms in artisan cheesemaking.

of that milk is made into cheese—about 7.4 percent of all cheese produced in the country—and most of that cheese is made at Southwest Cheese, a plant in Clovis where they process over 5.1 billion pounds of milk and produce more than 588 million pounds of block cheese as well as 36.8 million pounds of whey protein powders annually.

In other words, New Mexico has about one dairy cow per three people, but good luck finding a nice aged hard cheese or a soft ripened cheese made in the Land of Enchantment. Artisan cheese is usually made by hand in small batches from milk produced on small dairies with fewer than 100 cows—a size once typical in the Rio Grande Valley but true of less than a quarter of a percent of dairies in the state today. Artisan cheese relies on the quality of the milk, the microbiology unique to the place it’s made, and the quality and character of the rennet, as well as the unique strategies of the cheesemaker. This is some of what the NM Cheese Guild is aiming to inspire and revitalize in New Mexico.

In many ways, cheese is a perfect food. It is derived from milk, which we survive on almost exclusively for the first nine months of our lives. The making of cheese requires some very basic steps and processes: culturing the milk, which causes the lactose to convert into lactic acid, souring the milk; coagulation of the milk using rennet, which causes the milk to congeal; salting to add flavor and pull moisture from the curd; separating curds from whey; and shaping and, if desired, aging the finished product. The magic and diversity of 26

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cheeses comes from the myriad variations of milks, rennets, temperatures, and microbes, meaning that only in a large New Mexico cheese factory will any two cheeses taste the same.

Over the five days of the school, participants made six different types of cheese. Trevor started with a basic method for a simple soured cheese and a ricotta made from the whey. As he worked through a variety of approaches to cheesemaking, he shared how technique may have developed in different places around the world based on the climate’s suitability for storage, people’s need or capability to transport the cheese, and facilities (or lack thereof ) for making cheese. Ultimately, the group made several types of ricotta, cotija, a Halloumi style, brunost, and a failed feta.

We sourced our milk from cheese school participants. Students came to stay at the farm for the week, and several also brought milking animals from their goat herds. Each day started with goats being milked and still-warm milk being delivered to the kitchen, where it would set out to sour with the bacteria already active in the raw milk.

Just as different strains of yeast will produce very different flavors in beer, different strains of lactic acid bacteria will produce different by-products and flavors in cheesemaking. During the cheese school, we leveraged existing cultures in the milk for the souring process.

So much can affect flavor in small-batch cheesemaking, even if you try to consistently replicate the process. Part of the zen of cheesemaking is letting go of an expectation of consistent results and finding

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Left: Trevor talks through process and chemistry. Middle: Students examine their work, discussing flavor, texture, and process differences among the cheeses they’ve made. Right: Nina Listro, New Mexico Cheese Guild board member, samples grilled Halloumi.

pleasure in the fact that you will always have some degree of variation.

While the goats were on the farm, their diets changed, so the flavor profile of the milk changed as well. Several of the farmers commented that the milk got creamier and sweeter when the goats were allowed to browse on elms, often considered a nuisance. So we chopped down several of these weed trees and fed them to the goats—indeed, the milk the next day was noticeably sweeter.

Cheesemaking is an ancient tradition, with archeological evidence of the practice found in 7,000-year-old clay urns in northeastern Europe. But humans were likely making cheese as soon as they domesticated sheep about 10,000 years ago. Shepherds probably discovered cheese by using the stomachs of young animals as vessels for storing and transporting milk. Rennet is a collection of enzymes found in the stomach lining of unweaned mammals, such as calves, lambs, or kids. These young animals primarily consume milk, and the enzymes in their stomachs help slow milk digestion by curdling it into a solid form, allowing better nutrient absorption. As mammals grow older, they stop producing these enzymes. Because of this, rennet is traditionally obtained from very young animals that are culled shortly after birth. Thankfully, the process allows a significant amount of rennet to be derived from each animal and substantial volumes of milk to be made into cheese.

In preparation for the school, the NM Cheese Guild sponsored a one-day workshop on the farm for those who also wanted to learn how to harvest rennet. A neighboring farmer with goats had a nanny who had given birth to twins, both male, whom he didn’t want to raise and 28

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so donated them to the workshop. We demonstrated how to conduct humane on-farm slaughter of these animals, then collaborated with another goat farmer who had experience processing rennet to harvest the abomasum, the fourth stomach of these ruminant animals. After separating it from the rest of the offal, we cleaned the abomasum and packed it in salt. When cheese is ready to be made, the abomasum is removed from the salt, rinsed, ground, combined with water, and then strained, leaving an extremely bitter liquid. About half a teaspoon of this liquid rennet will coagulate a gallon of milk, so one abomasum can turn 700 to 800 gallons of milk into cheese. While rennet harvest can be one of the most contentious topics associated with cheesemaking, it also is a critical part of maintaining herds that are right sized for the landscapes and farms where they will live and graze.

During our week together in September, we used the rennet we harvested in April to make cheese. Learning the process in its entirety transformed my appreciation for this ancient staple. I have a deeper appreciation for the flavors I experience when eating it but also gratitude for the hard work and skill that goes not only into making cheese but caring for the animals who produce the milk. The school also expanded my awareness of the potential for cheesemaking in New Mexico. While we may be unlikely to develop small creameries, it does give me hope that herd shares and a culture of cheesemaking— and, in turn, a greater community of cheese enthusiasts—might emerge through the directed efforts of farmers and groups like the New Mexico Cheese Guild. nmcheeseguild.com

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FERMENTI'S PARADOX

Dry January IN THE DUKE CITY

By Robin Babb Photos by Stephanie Cameron

90 Day Pear with Tilden Lacewing, NM ChileJang gochujang simple syrup, and lime at Lost Cultures Tea Bar.

At the beginning of last year, I participated in the time-honored tradition of Dry January—a month of no booze. Now that I’m in my thirties, I increasingly feel the ways in which any amount of drinking hits me, and not just in the form of a temporary, morning-after hangover. After a month of sobriety, I had better sleep, more energy, and increased focus in my day-to-day—not to mention the clearest skin of my life. I felt so good that I kept it going for a few more months, and was feeling even better.

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There are countless good reasons to abstain: from the minor physical health concerns to the increasingly apparent connection between alcohol consumption and cancer; alcohol’s depressive effects in even small amounts; and, of course, the bite it can take out of your monthly budget. Whatever their various reasons, more and more young people are drinking less, or abstaining from drinking altogether. Since 2001, the percentage of young adults (ages 18–34) who drink has dropped from 72 percent to 62 percent nationwide, according to a 2023 poll

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by Gallup. I have a theory, too, that the millennials and Zoomers of the “let’s normalize going to therapy” era just find less use for alcohol—we are, dare I say, a tad more accustomed than past generations to having genuine conversations without the social lubrication that alcohol is often used for.

A whole sweeping movement of young (and not so young) sober folks are looking for better nonalcoholic options at bars and in their own fridges. When I did Dry January last year, I was pleasantly surprised to discover how much the NA beer game has improved in the last few years. Not only does every big multinational brewery have their own NA beer, but some NA-specific brewers (Athletic Brewing is the best known) have sprung up as well. Many liquor stores, including Albuquerque’s Jubilation Wine & Spirits and Quarters Discount Liquors, now have an entire section dedicated to NA beers. It seems that there’s something new every time I stop in. I would love to see some local breweries give it a shot as well, but from what little I know of the process involved in making NA beer, I understand that it is still cost-prohibitive for smaller enterprises.

NA beer and wine are both, typically, made the same way their alcoholic versions are, and then have the alcohol removed by a process such as vacuum distillation—which is why they, ideally, have the same flavor profiles as leaded beer and wine. That said, NA spirits generally have some catching up to do in terms of quality, and many on the market currently are not so much one-for-one replacements 32

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for specific liquors but their own products entirely, with mixed herbal and vegetal compounds. Still, the fact that there are more and more brands making them, seemingly every day, clearly indicates that there’s a demand here.

But both the dedicated sober and those just taking a break from drinking often struggle to find “third spaces” that have more than cursory NA options on their menus, much less places that are specifically dedicated to being nonalcoholic. Sure, there are coffee shops—but those are mostly for the morning hours, and these days they’re almost always full of remote workers on their laptops rather than friends trying to catch up. So what about a social space for those who want to unwind after work without the aid of alcohol?

In Albuquerque, Lost Cultures Tea Bar is one such space.

Ryan Brown, owner and manager of Lost Cultures, says that he went sober in 2022—but, after working in bars for fifteen years, he had developed quite a skill for making drinks. Lost Cultures was born largely of a desire for balance: pairing his own health and sobriety with what he did well.

“We tend to go a little truer to the bar aspect of it, versus a kombucha place that just serves kombucha or a kava place that just serves kava,” Brown says. The menu does include a significant tea list, and tea finds its way into some of their NA cocktails as well—all of which are made with the care and curation that you’d expect from a classy

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Above: Lavender Clouds with Earl Grey tea; Sandia Soul with watermelonand-sage shrub. Below: Ryan Brown, owner of Lost Cultures Tea Bar.

Though Lost Cultures is open earlier in the day than most bars and is sometimes host to the laptop-wielding crowd, it also has, as Brown indicates, more of an evening-hours clientele that’s looking for a social space with a relaxed vibe. It’s a good place to go on a date or to meet up with a friend, and have something delicious and exquisitely made while you do it. Not exactly like a bar, perhaps, but like a vision of how bars could be. cocktail joint. The Lavender Clouds, made with Earl Grey tea, lavender bitters, and a chilled coconut cream foam on top, is my current favorite of their hot drinks; the Ancient Fashioned is their tea-based spin on an old fashioned, with orange bitters and woodsmoke. None of these drinks taste like a compromise, or even like a simple knockoff of their alcoholic counterparts. They’re each unique and complex. And, guaranteed, they won’t give you a headache or dry mouth the next morning.

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I’m doing Dry January again this year. It’s a nice change to start off the year—intentionality, better health, and a bit of a reprieve on my finances, already stretched from holiday traveling and gifts. Plus, I admit I enjoy the novelty and challenge of mixing mocktails at home, or trying new things from the NA section at the liquor store. I don’t know if I’ll ever go 100 percent sober 100 percent of the time, honestly, but I know that I’ve certainly never regretted taking a break.

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BACK OF HOUSE

FROM TABLE TO FARM

HOW ONE RESTAURANT’S SHIFT TO COMPOSTING FOOD WASTE BENEFITS THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY

By Lynn Cline · Photos by Allison Ramirez

Radish tops at Mampuku Ramen going into Reunity Resources’ compost bins.

After diners have savored bowls of fragrant tonkotsu, shoyu, curry, and other ramen at Mampuku Ramen, what’s left joins radish tops, green onion ends, red pepper pith, and more in a bin in the Santa Fe restaurant’s kitchen. Until last year, these scraps, aside from some that went home with the prep chef to feed her chickens, ended up in the local landfill. There, piled along with food waste from dozens of other restaurants and thousands of homes, they rotted, releasing methane, a planet-warming gas that is twenty-five times stronger than carbon dioxide.

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“We opened Mampuku Ramen right before the pandemic and we were busy, with lines outside the door,” says manager Ayame Fukuda, who runs and co-owns the restaurant with her sister, Iba Fukuda. It was 2019 when the sisters, who grew up helping their parents run Shohko Cafe, Santa Fe’s first sushi bar, opened the city’s first ramen-focused restaurant. Seven months later, the first of many public health orders restricted public gatherings, and soon everything changed: “We had to shut down and convert to takeout. We weren’t thinking about composting then.”

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Left: Radish tops being composted. Right: Birria ramen with beef bone broth, shredded beef shoulder, sliced red radishes, and marinated boiled egg.

Luckily for Santa Fe, they made it through the ups and downs of the pandemic, and last year, realizing they could do something even more beneficial with the restaurant’s food waste than feed a fraction of it to chickens, the sisters reached out to Reunity Resources.

Making the shift to sustainability was a no-brainer. Food waste contributes to more than 40 percent of waste in landfills. “It felt so right,” Ayame says of signing up for Reunity’s Commercial Food Waste Collection program. “There was no resistance whatsoever to doing it.

It’s a double win for everybody. Reunity gives us a sixty-four-gallon wheeled cart and compostable liners and then they pick up the waste.

It’s so easy.”

Mampuku Ramen is now part of a growing network of local restaurants, institutions, and households that are helping the environment by sending food scraps and leftovers to the Reunity Resources Soil Yard, where they are broken down into a fertile, microbially rich, fungi-friendly mixture that enriches soil—a.k.a. compost. The compost, in turn, is used locally by home gardeners and landscapers and in community and school gardens, where it supports soil and plant health and helps reduce pollution.

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The compost is also integral at Reunity Resources’ own two-acre farm, nurturing healthy soil to grow carrots, tomatoes, radishes, greens, and an abundance of other food. The produce is then donated to families through local food equity programs and Reunity’s onsite Community Fridge, sold at Reunity’s seasonal Farm Stand, and made into hot sauces, pickles, and other prepared foods through Reunity’s Saving Seconds program.

Reunity Resources began in 2011 as a small biodiesel program, upcycling used cooking oil, and expanded in 2014, adding the Commercial Food Waste Collection program to compost food scraps from local restaurants. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Reunity launched the Doorstep Food Waste Collection program, which now serves more than 550 homes in the Santa Fe area. Together, the programs annually divert more than 1.4 million pounds of food waste from the landfill, which is the CO2 emissions equivalent of removing 823 vehicles from the road for a year.

“We started with six restaurants and today we have more than forty-five,” says Juliana Peterson Ciano, Reunity Resources cofounder and program director. “We also have about twenty-seven schools and

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Left: Tonkotsu pork bone broth with green onions, bamboo shoots, Naruto fish cake, chashu pork, and a marinated boiled egg.

Right: Owners Ayame and Iba Fukuda.

other institutions. To get all of these restaurants together is a huge amount of food waste that we’re diverting. There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not grateful for our community and everyone’s willingness to participate. This idea of community-scale solution to climate change only works in a community that shows up, and I think the restaurants in Santa Fe really show up.”

to your desert soils, so many benefits happen. You can grow food and that soil will hold water instead of having that water run off.

You’re turning your desert soil into a sponge, holding water where you need it. And whatever is growing in that soil is doing photosynthesis and pumping carbon dioxide into the soil, and that helps things grow.”

As those radish tops journey from Mampuku Ramen’s kitchen to Reunity’s Soil Yard, they contribute to the fifty-three tons of food waste collected by Reunity each month from restaurants and nonschool institutions. The waste is composted, a process that the Reunity team calls “regenerative alchemy.” When seeds are planted in compost-enhanced soil, carbon is sequestered from the atmosphere, where it’s harmful, and stored in the soil, where it’s needed, contributing to climate resiliency.

As compost, all those radish tops are now returning a favor, helping other radishes to grow in healthy, fertile soil. Once those radishes are grown, they’ll end up providing a boost of vitamins and other health benefits to everyone who eats them, whether at one of Santa Fe’s restaurants or at home.

“I always love the simplicity of compost,” Juliana says. “Actually it’s food waste, wood waste, air, and water, and we are just collaborating with the natural process so that this material is composting rather than decaying, and you’re preventing emissions. When you have the final result of this alchemy, this compost, and you add that 40

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Reunity’s food waste collection services aren’t just good for the environment, they’re also good for participating restaurateurs. “It was such a relief to start composting,” says Ayame. “I feel so good about raw leftovers now.”

Mampuku Ramen 1965 Cerrillos, Santa Fe, 505-772-0169, mampukuramen.com Reunity Resources 1829 San Ysidro Crossing, Santa Fe, 505-393-1196, reunityresources.com

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FARMER'S TABLE

Intentional Eating ON VEGETARIANISM, FARMING, AND THE CULTIVATION OF PRINCIPLES

By Shahid Mustafa

Shahid Mustafa at Taylor Hood Farms, photo courtesy of Shahid Mustafa.

My journey into what I’ll call “intentional eating” began in 1989 when I was twenty-one years old. I was working at a small health food store in Evanston, Illinois, called the Green Earth. Until I began working at this store, I had never given much thought to dietary principles based on any concern beyond hunger, taste, and 42

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nutrition. But in this place, I was exposed to a whole new world of food, sometimes literally. I knew of vegetarianism, but what was vegan, fruitarian, or macrobiotic? The terms “local,” “organic,” “pesticide-free,” and “nonirradiated” also moved into my newfound lexicon of food choices. The list has grown quite a bit since then.

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Pulling carrots from the earth, photo by Robert Yee.

In conversations with customers, and taking it upon myself to understand more by reading books and magazines, I realized there exists a culture around food that takes into account implications and consequences that transcend the impact on the individual. Protecting the health of the environment and ecosystem by safeguarding lands, air, and waters; respecting the dignity, personhood, and value of laborers; and the ethical treatment of animals and other sentient beings were all matters that I became acutely aware of during my years of working in and operating natural food stores and food co-ops.

As time passed and I became more educated, I decided to try my hand at vegetarianism. Initially it was tough, as my diet at the time consisted of mostly proteins and starches with very few vegetables, cooked or otherwise. A funny thing I learned about many of the vegetarians I met was that they actually didn’t eat as many vegetables as I had previously thought. At that time, many of the vegetarian and vegan staples for protein were meat alternatives derived from soy and wheat gluten. There were at least six different options of soy milk beverages, sweetened and unsweetened, in vanilla, chocolate, and carob flavors, in addition to plain. There were also plenty of nondairy substitutes for butter, eggs, and yogurt.

I adopted vegetarianism for health as well as conscientious reasons.

I was at a point where I was seeking to separate myself from what I 44

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considered unhealthy and self-destructive ways of thinking that had shaped my worldview. I was attracted to new esoteric practices and social ideologies such as Rastafarianism, Sufism, and yoga. Dietary restrictions weighed heavily in these belief systems, and I felt inspired to adopt vegetarianism as not just a dietary choice but as a way of life.

I remained a vegetarian for seven years, and for the last four of those I was basically vegan. I found the meat alternatives to be not as enjoyable as real meat had been, and my body didn’t seem to adjust well to digesting tons of hydrolyzed and fermented soy. As with some vegans, I gained the reputation of raising a big stink as a result of being one, and although I didn’t talk about it much, I still made a lot of noise. The kind of noise that will clear the room, especially when it’s inaudible.

What I ultimately learned was that by combining legumes, grains, and vegetables, I could maintain a balanced diet while allowing for plenty of diversity and experimentation. I discovered a world of grains beyond wheat, rice, and corn, and found that my overall intake of fresh fruits and vegetables increased considerably. Eventually, I began to introduce dairy back into my diet because I was just not satisfied with nondairy alternatives. I still remained mostly vegetarian, but I wasn’t a strict vegan anymore.

When I began growing food in my backyard, I realized how much difference time makes in respect to the flavor of a fresh off-the-vine or

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Handfuls of chicken eggs, photo by Robert Yee.

out-of-the-ground vegetable. It’s amazing how fast the flavor profile changes in a vegetable from the time that it’s harvested—even within the next forty-eight hours. That’s just one of many factors that determine the quality of food that actually makes it to people’s tables. As I grew my gardening into more small-scale farming, I visited with and shared experiences with many other farmers of different scales.

A funny thing I’ve learned about many of the farmers I’ve met is that they actually don’t eat as many vegetables as I had previously thought . . . and it isn’t because they’re vegetarians. For me, one of the reasons is that the vegetables I produce become commodities, and I always feel a little like I’m stealing from myself when I eat too much of my product. I’m working on that, because it’s an anxiety not really based in reality.

In the co-op scene in the 1980s and ’90s, society was part of the environment we talked about impacting. Not a lot of people believed that we could. But as it turns out, farmers make choices in regard to how they will farm, similar to, and sometimes in response to, the principled dietary choices consumers make. The growth in the natural and organic sector over the last thirty years has turned what was once considered a niche category into one that has found sections or space 46

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on the shelves of all major food retailers, convenience stores, and even discount-focused outlets. Subsequently, either by conscientious alignment or supply chain demand, producers have begun to commit to farming practices that meet the standards and the expectations of the principled consumer.

At this point in my life, I would consider myself an omnivore because I choose to eat pasture-raised poultry, grassfed dairy and beef, and sustainable seafood when those options are available. I’ve come to understand that the choices we make about how we spend our dollars have a direct and quantifiable effect on not just market production and legislation but also the way corporate policies respond to the demand of the consumer. For instance, federal grants have supported regenerative methods and restoration on working lands, and fast food chains have signed on to the Fair Food Program, which aims to protect farmworkers.

As we consider ways to effect change in the world we live in and intend to leave behind, perhaps we can more carefully align our moral and conscientious principles with our purchasing power to support and influence producers and manufacturers to honor those principles.

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EDIBLE DISPATCH

Lobster Four Ways in Portland, Maine Words and Photos by Stephanie Cameron

Rumor has it that Portland, Maine, has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the United States besides San Francisco. Although there isn’t enough data to back that up, just by walking the streets, it sure feels true. From a flight of sauce with my duck-fat fries at the infamous Duck Fat to the flavor bomb chicken at Crispy Gài and all the seafood in between, I ate my way through the city for five days and didn’t even scratch the surface. And it’s definitely fair to say, “When in Maine, eat lobster daily”—especially when it is lobster season!

HIGHROLLER LOBSTER CO., LOBSTER ROLL FLIGHT

If David Chang owned a lobster roll restaurant, Highroller would be it. The space is lively and designed with bold splashes of red integrated with an old-school diner vibe, and large, saucy food photos fill an entire wall. Their local beer list runs deep, and the creative spins on the menu make it clear why people line up for lunch and dinner here. I went with the customizable lobster roll flight, called Beggahs CAN Be Choosahs, which in my case included three mini rolls served Connecticut style (meaning warm, versus Maine style, served cold) and sauced, respectively, with charred pineapple mayo, jalapeño mayo, and lobster ghee.

J’S OYSTER, LOBSTER STEW

If you want to hang with the locals, J’s Oyster is the place. With a huge bar dotted with a handful of tables and a loud and boisterous crowd, you are sure someone is going to yell “Norm!” when the door opens. I sat at the far end of the bar with a straight shot into the tiny 48

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kitchen and had good access to the bartender. The menu is full of fresh seafood options, and I could have gone so many ways, but the lobster stew beckoned. I will say—it was out of this world!

MR. TUNA, LOBSTER HAND ROLL It was tuna season when I was in Portland, so a stop at Mr. Tuna was a must. Notably, they’ve created expertise in local bluefin, and with their “halfie hour,” they are a great spot to grab a local brew and a sushi roll before heading to dinner at their sister restaurant, Bar Futo.

I, of course, had to try a Maine lobster hand roll with avocado, shiso, and sudachi mayo in addition to my spicy tuna hand roll with umeboshi, cucumber, and tempura flakes.

LOBSTER SHACK, STEAMED LOBSTER Cape Elizabeth is the quintessential “must do” when in Maine. A twenty-minute drive from Portland through one tiny town after another landed me at the most magnificent view of the Atlantic Ocean and the Lobster Shack. Open since the 1920s, they keep it simple with plates, boats, and sandwiches, all made with freshly caught seafood. I went with the lobster dinner, and as I placed my order at the counter, I watched with fascination as they fished out a live lobster and dropped it into a pot to steam. Sitting at a bright red picnic table, the same color as my lobster, soaking in the sun and sea air, I knew I was in a place like no other on this planet.

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FIELD NOTES ON A FEW PLACES TO EAT AND DRINK

Albuquerque’s beloved Coda Bakery has moved around the corner, into a larger space next to the Mesquite Market on San Pedro.

In Albuquerque’s Bricklight District, Salt & Board has closed their doors; in Nob Hill, Slice Parlor and O’Neill’s Pub have done the same. But new kid on the block Mission Winery has opened a full tasting room and restaurant in the old Zacatecas spot, plus a cavey sports bar and lounge called the Parlor Room.

Speaking of local wineries, New Mexico Wine Studio is now open in Old Town Albuquerque. Open Thursday through Sunday, the tasting room features half a dozen or so New Mexico wineries at any given time.

In yet more wine-centric news, D.H. Lescombes opened a second bistro in Albuquerque, up near Rio Rancho—their sixth in the state.

They’re serving lunch and dinner in addition to their namesake wine.

The New Mexico Cheese Guild’s next event is a January 19 screening of Shelf Life at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque. This unique and thought-provoking film explores the global world of cheese and draws poignant connections between the aging of cheese and the human experience of growing old. And if you can’t make the screening, you can still join the cheese guild to learn about future opportunities to eat, make, and learn about cheese.

A cute little coffee shop called Santa Cecilia has opened in Old Town Albuquerque in the spot on Romero where you might’ve once picked up some tikka masala.

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MÁS Tapas y Vino is gone for good, but as we type, the space at Hotel Andaluz is being transformed into “an exciting new concept.” Word on the street is that the food will be New Mexican.

preorders for Sunday pickups (which, as ever, sell out more or less instantly) and offering walk-in customers loose bagels, smoked salmon, spreads, and such on Sunday mornings.

At press time, Marble Brewery was purportedly in the throes of being bought. Whatever happens, they promise, doors will remain open at all the brewery’s taprooms.

In the wake of a slew of Greek restaurant closures in Albuquerque, an upscale Greek place opened on Eubank. Located in the space next door to Meraki Coffee + Market that was formerly home to Mykonos, Dōrothéa has lots of lamb and seafood on its menu, as well as a full bar.

Dripline Brewery in Wells Park has finally opened. Their space is sleek and large, with abundant outdoor space designed with families in mind, and we’ve spied Nena’s food truck on their rotation a few times.

In other brewery-adjacent news, Sammy’s Cafe & Deli, the sandwich shop attached at the hip (and the chef ) to Ex Novo Brewing’s downtown Albuquerque taproom, is officially open. In addition to some diverse sandwich offerings, a few salads, and the requisite breakfast burrito, they serve coffee from Michael Thomas and bagels from Sunday Bagels.

Sammy’s Cafe & Deli.

And Sunday Bagels is easing their way into direct sales from their new storefront in the cute little building that once housed Café Laurel. In December, they started opening for

Maharaja Indian Cuisine.

Our patience has been rewarded: After dangling their sign near Lomas and Monroe for months, Maharaja Indian Cuisine opened in September.

A sister to Taaj Palace, they serve standards like tikka masala and butter chicken alongside less common treats like paneer pakora.

Albuquerque has a new Jamaican restaurant: Island Vibes Cuisine. Along with curry goat, jerk chicken and pork, and barbi-fry, they offer the Jamaican brunch classic ackee and saltfish. Find it across the sidewalk from Talin Market.

Mati Peruvian Cuisine opened up on San Pedro in Albuquerque a couple of months ago. We’ve yet to scope it out, but the ají de gallina and the yuca

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OUT AND ABOUT The storied St. James Hotel closed its doors on September 17, but not for long: Father-daughter duo Alyse and Chad Mantz of M Vacation Properties soon purchased the landmark Cimarron venue, and were aiming for a grand re-opening on December 20, with Bila Conchas as chef.

fries look pretty tasty. Open every day but Sunday, 11 am to 8 pm.

Don’t skip the salsas at Herencia.

Albuquerque restaurant veteran Henrique Valdovinos opened the restaurant in September with his son Luis, and despite being squeezed in between a Sprouts and a Menchie’s, the venue manages to feel casually upscale, with a modern Mexican menu to match.

Herencia.

Speaking of salsas: Every year the National Fiery Foods & BBQ Show brings some of the nation’s spiciest hot sauces, salsas, and other fiery dishes together under one roof. Whether you’re an industry insider or just have a bold palate, you’ll find plenty of spicy goodies at the Sandia Resort & Casino between February 28 and March 2.

The main building at the Indian Pueblo Entrepreneur Complex, a project of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, opened its doors on September 5. IPEC boasts a slick commercial kitchen, cold storage, and classroom space, with gardens and more to come. They’ve still got some open rental spaces, so check it out if you’ve been dreaming of going pro with your cheffy side hustle.

The event of the season, for the beer nerds in your life: Winterbrew 2025 takes place January 24 at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Pavilion. Some of the state’s best, most award winning–est breweries will gather to ply you with their wares. Ticket price includes sixteen samples and a pint of your favorite in a commemorative pint glass.

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Taos Winter Wine Festival.

If you’re more of a wine person, we’ve got you covered there too: The Taos Winter Wine Festival runs January 29 to February 2. Some of the events throughout the long weekend are ​​daily chef luncheons, aprés ski tastings, wine dinners, a grand tasting with thirty New Mexico wineries pouring, and a reserve tasting, with the best from each of the represented wineries poured alongside bites from local restaurants.

Wild Leaven Bakery reopened in a new spot down the road from Meow Wolf, on Parkway between Agua Fria and Rufina, after closing their Taos location as well as their shop in the CHOMP Food Hall.

Unit B by Chocolate Maven opened during the New Mexico Jazz Festival in Santa Fe. The menu covers a culinary spectrum too wide to call anything but American, with bolognese, fish and chips, pizza, and kitcheree among the offerings.

Also in Santa Fe, ¡Salud! had their grand opening on October 26. The craft cocktail bar, owned and operated by the same folks that run Rowley Farmhouse Ales, is located inside the new Palace Modern hotel.

Tulsi opened in Santa Fe earlier this week. The restaurant, located on Paseo de Peralta between Alameda and Palace, is headed up by Chef Paddy Rawal—who opened Raaga on Agua Fria and claimed, when closing the carryout-only reboot of Raaga in 2023, that he was retiring.

Rosie’s Smokehouse has joined the Questa dining scene. Very much a family-run affair, the smokehouse serves excellent brisket, pulled pork, smoked sausage, and ribs along with classic sides like baked beans, green chile mac and cheese, and corn on the cob.

Matteo’s has opened up a new spot in Alamogordo—this is their fourth location. The fast-casual Mexican food chain is serving up arroz con leche, tortas, nacho fries, and plenty of other comfort food.

Tickets go on sale January 15 for A Taste of Grassfed Smackdown, a new competition edible New Mexico is cohosting with the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance. Some of your favorite local restaurants and chefs will be in attendance, cooking up burgers and other dishes with grassfed/grass-finished meat. Come learn why grassfed is better for both human and animal health—and tastier too. It goes down March 9 at The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing Co.

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Toast-worthy Celebrations Across The Land of Enchantment PRESENTED BY THE LIQUID MUSE AND EDIBLE NEW MEXICO 54

edible New Mexico | LATE WINTER 2025

12:30 (VIP) 1:30–4:30 pm (GA) The Bridge @ Santa Fe Brewing 35 Fire Pl, Santa Fe

2025

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AT a March 9, 2025

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Enjoy amazing and learn how to support sustainable, local ranching from the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance

An edible New Mexico event presented by Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance Edible New Mexico is thrilled to introduce a new Smackdown experience to complement our beloved Green Chile Cheeseburger and Burrito Smackdowns! Join us on Sunday, March 9 at The Bridge @ Santa Fe Brewing Co. for an unforgettable day celebrating our region’s dedicated grassfed ranchers while fostering connections that inspire a deeper appreciation for the protein on your plate.

At this event, you’ll have the chance to meet the ranchers behind the food and savor mouthwatering local grassfed/grass-finished creations from seven talented local chefs. Cast your vote to crown the “People’s Choice” winner and discover how to source grassfed meat directly from the ranchers themselves. Don’t miss this opportunity to enjoy amazing flavors and learn how to support sustainable, local ranching from the Southwest Grassfed Livestock Alliance.

Taste and Vote for New Mexico’s Best Grassfed dishes!

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EDIBLE INGREDIENT

SPONSORED BY

WINTER PANZANELLA Serves 4 Level: Easy; Prep time: 20 minutes; Cook time: 1 hour, 25 minutes; Total time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Panzanella is a Tuscan salad traditionally made with stale bread and tomatoes, which soak into the bread and add flavor. But you can enjoy bread salad in cooler weather too. Make this warm panzanella with a wonderful day-old loaf of sourdough, root vegetables, squash, fresh parsley, and a bright grapefruit juice dressing, and you’ll have a hearty, healthy one-dish dinner. This recipe can be adapted for any season, but winter is when US-grown citrus is at its sweetest.

Sourdough Bread

Photo by Stephanie Cameron.

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2 medium golden beets, scrubbed, tops removed 1 delicata squash 1/2 cup olive oil, divided 3 tablespoons maple syrup, divided 1 3/4 teaspoons salt, divided 1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper, divided 8 ounces sourdough bread, cut or torn into 1-inch cubes 1/2 cup grapefruit juice 1 garlic clove, minced 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 cup fresh parsley leaves (flat-leaf or curly) 1 cup pomegranate seeds 1 cup grapefruit segments 8 ounces goat cheese, crumbled Arrange racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 400°F. Wrap beets in foil, place them in a baking dish, and roast them on top rack, checking for doneness after 1 hour.

Continue cooking until tender enough to pierce easily with a paring knife. Let cool until comfortable enough to handle, then peel by rubbing outsides with a paper towel or clean dish towel. Cut into 3/4-inch pieces.

Meanwhile, cut delicata in half lengthwise; scoop out seeds and pulp. Cut lengthwise again, and then slice into 1/4-inch

quarter moons. In a medium bowl, combine 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; add delicata and toss until coated. Spread out in a single layer onto a baking sheet. Roast on lower rack, stirring once or twice, until tender and caramelized, 16–20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. In a large bowl, toss bread, 3 tablespoons oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place on top rack and bake, turning cubes halfway through, until golden brown and crisp, about 25 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk grapefruit juice, garlic, thyme, mustard, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons maple syrup until well blended. Slowly whisk in 6 tablespoons of oil until the dressing is smooth.

Toss squash, beets, toasted bread, parsley, and pomegranate seeds in a large bowl. Slowly drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss again.

Transfer the bread salad to a platter. Top with goat cheese and grapefruit segments. *Sourcing note: La Montañita Co-op carries sourdough bread from Fano Bread Company and Sage Bakehouse.

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HOW TO THAW FROZEN FISH

Atlantic Salmon

The best way to thaw frozen fish and to preserve the quality is in the refrigerator overnight. The controlled environment of the refrigerator prevents cells from expanding too quickly, which can change the fish’s consistency, and inhibits the growth of harmful bacteria.

Remove fish from its packaging and place on a plate or tray lined with paper towels. If possible, arrange the fish in a single layer.

Put the fish on a low shelf in the refrigerator, which is usually the coldest part. Lightly cover the fish with a single layer of plastic wrap or parchment paper, folding it around the ends of the plate or pan to seal it. Once the fish thaws, rinse it to remove any ice glaze and pat it dry with paper towels.

Steelhead Trout

Rockfish

It’s best to cook fish within a day or two of thawing it.

Sablefish

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COOKING FRESH

A Shift to Eating More Fish Words and Photos by Stephanie Cameron

When I was coming up in the culinary world, I was fortunate to train under the mantra of “fresh, seasonal, local.” Frozen seafood can certainly seem like the antithesis of that idea. But I’ve come to understand that the two are actually in alignment. —Barton Seaver, author, speaker, and chef

This past fall, while attending the Edible Institute in Portland, Maine, I had the privilege of hearing a presentation by Barton Seaver, the author of The Joy of Seafood: The All-Purpose Seafood Cookbook with More Than 900 Recipes and seven other books. His passion for seafood was infectious, so much so that he refers to himself as a “seafood evangelist.” Seaver has dedicated his career to advocating for sustainable seafood. His enthusiasm for incorporating more fish into our diets as a sustainable and healthy protein option challenged my long-held beliefs. For years, my mantra had been “I don’t eat seafood in the desert.” Yet as I listened to him speak, my preconceived notions began to melt away, prompting me to rethink my stance. Adding to this shift was my doctor’s advice: I needed to incorporate more fish into my diet. This posed a challenge, as my primary protein sources have come mostly from local ranchers for the last twelve years. Living in the desert means that fresh seafood isn’t exactly abundant—unless I go fishing for it myself. Still, Seaver’s words and my health needs sparked a new perspective, motivating me to explore ways to make fish a part of my diet without compromising my commitment to eat with consideration for the health of the planet.

seafood may have been out of the water for hours or even weeks. But now they are able to use the ‘individually quick frozen’ (IQF) method right out of the water at peak freshness.”

In the United States, buying and eating fresh fish, particularly local varieties, is a luxury largely limited to the coasts. But today’s technology allows frozen fish to be a high-quality alternative to fresh, even in a landlocked state. Jeff “Rojo” Koscomb and Butch Wilder, owners of local seafood distribution company Above Sea Level, shared this with our sister publication, The Bite: “So much of the freezing is done on the boats now. For decades, the misconception about frozen fish was true because it wouldn’t be frozen until the ship came in. So that

From community-supported fisheries to mail-order subscriptions to discerning local shops and markets, New Mexicans have many options for sourcing seafood. The key is to do your research and always ask questions about where your supermarkets and seafood suppliers source their products. Buying from businesses that provide fishery source information and are committed to selling sustainable seafood can increase the likelihood that your purchase is supporting both a healthy ecosystem and the economies of ethical fisheries.

For this edition of Cooking Fresh, I’m specifically focusing on fish.

I’m sharing a selection of recipes and cooking techniques that work well with a variety of fish species, along with a guide to choosing sustainable options, meaning that they aren’t overfished or farmed in a manner that degrades shorelines or pollutes local waterways. I used frozen fish for all these recipes, and here’s why: When it comes to fresh fish, it’s best to cook it the day of or the day after purchase. Frozen fish offers more flexibility because it can last nine to twelve months in the freezer. The quality of flash-frozen fish is often superior to that of the “fresh” fish available in our region, as it’s typically frozen within hours of being caught. This also makes frozen fish a more sustainable choice; while processors discard little to no seafood, a significant amount can go to waste at the retail level if it isn’t sold quickly enough or in home kitchens if it isn’t cooked in time. Frozen fish eliminates that urgency, allowing us to enjoy great-tasting seafood whenever we’re ready.

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Rockfish with Caper and Tomato Pan Sauce This method works best with boneless pieces of fish, either whole fillets or meaty portions of larger fish, skinless or not. Pan searing creates a crispy crust and tender, moist interior. The remaining fat and any fish bits left after cooking your fillets add to the flavor of the pan sauce.

Method: Seared Level: Easy Prep time: 20 minutes; Cook time: 10 minutes; Total time: 30 minutes Serves 2 2 rockfish fillets 2 tablespoons flour (optional) Salt and pepper, for seasoning 2 tablespoons avocado or sunflower oil, divided 2 tablespoons butter, divided 1/2 cup dry white wine 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 red onion, diced small 3 tablespoons capers 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half Zest from half a lemon

Remove fish from the refrigerator 20 minutes before cooking, and sprinkle a little salt on both sides. Pat fillets dry; damp or moist fillets are much more likely to stick to the pan. Dust fillets with flour and shake off any excess.

Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

In a steel pan, add 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter. Heat on medium high until butter is melted but not browned, then reduce heat to medium.

Place fillets in the pan. Don’t touch fillets until ready to flip. After about 3 minutes, try to slide the spatula under the fish. If the fish releases easily from the pan, flip it; if not, try again in a few seconds. It will release when the bottom of the fish is done cooking.

After flipping, divide remaining 1 tablespoon of butter over both fillets and cook fish for another 2–3 minutes, or until done. Fish will be golden on both the top and bottom and opaque all the way through when finished cooking.

Transfer the fish to plates, leaving the excess butter in the pan. Cover fish to keep warm, or set fish in a 200ºF oven.

Add remaining oil, onion, and garlic to the pan and cook until shallots are translucent, 2–3 minutes. Add wine and deglaze the pan with a wooden spoon. Add capers, cherry tomatoes, and lemon zest. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are blistered.

Serve fish hot with the pan sauce.

Note: Fish can be served over a bed of mashed or roasted potatoes.

ROCKFISH (from US, with some exceptions) is rated a “Best Choice” by Seafood Watch.

• Buy rockfish caught in Alaska, California, Oregon, or Washington.

• Buy bocaccio, canary, quillback, redstripe, silvergray, widow, yelloweye, yellowmouth, and yellowtail rockfish caught in British Columbia, Canada.

Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch

• Buy rockfish certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.

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Sablefish Tacos Broiling is best for firm-fleshed fish like salmon, cod, or sablefish, and the result is a caramelized exterior and a moist and tender interior. However, broiling requires constant attention and can make it easy to overcook. Sablefish is also known as black cod and butterfish in the United States. It’s a flaky white fish with a velvety mouthfeel that takes on flavors beautifully. Creating a quick marinade and using the broiler to cook the fish makes these flavorful tacos an easy meal to put on the table.

Method: Broiled Level: Easy Prep time: 35 minutes; Cook time: 10 minutes; Total time: 45 minutes Serves 4 Fish 1 1/2 pounds sablefish or other white flaky fish Marinade Juice of 1 lime 2 tablespoons avocado oil 2 teaspoons chile powder 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon cumin 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon cayenne 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper Slaw 1/4 cup Greek yogurt Juice of 1 lime 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped 1 tablespoon honey 2 cups purple cabbage, shredded 1 carrot, grated 1 jalapeño, minced Salt and pepper, to taste Lime crema 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 tablespoon lime juice 1/2 teaspoon lime zest 1 garlic clove, minced Salt, to taste For serving Corn tortillas Avocado, sliced Lime wedges

In a shallow dish, whisk together all marinade ingredients. Add sablefish, tossing until evenly coated, and gently rub the marinade over the fish on all sides. Let marinate 15 minutes. Set oven to high broil and let it heat for 10 minutes. Arrange the rack 4 inches from the heat source.

Meanwhile, make the slaw in a large bowl. Stir together yogurt, lime juice, cilantro, and honey. Add in cabbage, carrot, and jalapeño. Toss to coat.

Season with a dash of salt and pepper. Set aside.

Make the crema by combining all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Position fish on a baking pan lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. (If fish has skin on, place skin-side down on the pan.) Broil for about 5 minutes or until fish flakes when pierced with a fork. The rule of thumb is 2 minutes per 1/2 inch thickness of fish. Checking on the fish every 3 minutes is recommended to avoid overcooking.

Once fish is done cooking, use a fork to carefully break it up into bite-sized pieces. Warm tortillas on a skillet for about 20–30 seconds per side. Divide fish among heated tortillas and top with slaw and avocado. Squeeze lime juice on top and drizzle with crema.

SABLEFISH (a.k.a. black cod) is rated a “Best Choice”

by Seafood Watch when caught using the pots farming method. Pots are a more efficient, successful, and sustainable way to harvest sablefish than the traditional baited hook.

• Buy sablefish caught in the US. • Buy wild-caught or farmed sablefish from Canada.

• Buy sablefish certified by the Marine Stewardship Council.

Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch

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Braised Steelhead Trout with Creamed Kale Adapted from Danielle Prewett

Thin fish, like steelhead trout, are delicate and can overcook quickly. This recipe gently cooks fillets in a white wine sauce, leaving perfect flakes that soak up the flavors of the braising liquid. This recipe works with mild fish such as trout, walleye, or flounder. You can also make this recipe with thicker fish like halibut or cod, although it will take longer to cook through in the oven.

Method: Braised Level: Intermediate Prep time: 15 minutes; Cook time: 30 minutes; Total time: 45 minutes Serves 4 1 pound red potatoes, chopped into cubes 1–2 inches thick 1 tablespoon neutral oil, for cooking potatoes Kosher salt and fresh-cracked black pepper, to taste 2 tablespoons butter 1 leek 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 bunch kale (lacinato or curly), stems removed and roughly chopped 1 1/4 cup dry white wine 1/2 cup heavy cream Zest of 1 lemon 1–1 1/2 pounds trout fillets, skin removed, seasoned with salt and pepper 1 tablespoon chopped dill or parsley for serving

Preheat oven to 350°F, with a large sheet pan placed in the oven while preheating.

Spread the chopped potatoes across the preheated sheet pan and drizzle with enough oil to coat. Sprinkle a generous amount of kosher salt and fresh-cracked pepper and toss. Roast, flipping halfway through. Cook until soft in the middle but crispy on the outside, about 30 minutes.

While potatoes are cooking, slice leek lengthwise and slice thinly into halfmoons. Heat a large, ovenproof sauté pan over medium heat. Melt butter, and add leek once butter begins to foam. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add garlic and kale. Continue to cook until kale softens but is not fully wilted. Deglaze the pan with white wine and stir in the heavy cream. Add lemon zest. Reduce heat to a simmer and let the sauce reduce. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Turn off heat and gently place each fillet into the pan, pushing them down to partially submerge. Transfer the whole pan to the oven to finish cooking.

Braise fish in the sauce until just barely cooked through, about 6–8 minutes.

It should flake easily with a fork when done.

Serve the fish fillets and sauce with the crispy potatoes. Sprinkle with fresh dill or parsley to finish.

RAINBOW and STEELHEAD TROUT farmed in the US is rated a “Best Choice” for environmental sustainability and is on Seafood Watch’s Super Green List.

Rainbow trout in the US are typically farmed in freshwater net pens, flowthrough raceways, and ponds. Strong industry management and regulations set by the federal government and states mitigate many of the risks otherwise associated with raceway fish farming.

Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch

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Wine-Poached Atlantic Salmon Poaching is a great way to prepare salmon, especially if you want moist and tender results. You can poach fatty fish in water, wine, or broth; use oil or butter to poach lean fish. When poaching, load up your liquid with lots of aromatics because your fish will cook in less than 10 minutes. Poached salmon can be flaked on salads and mixed in with pasta, but it is also great served whole with lemon, butter, and roasted veggies.

Method: Poached Level: Easy Prep time: 10 minutes; Cook time: 10 minutes; Total time: 20 minutes Serves 4 1 lemon, thinly sliced 1 shallot, sliced 1 medium fennel bulb, sliced into rounds 4 salmon fillets, skin on 6 sprigs fresh dill 1 cup water 1/2 cup white wine Salt and fresh-cracked black pepper, for seasoning

Make a bed of lemon slices, shallot, and fennel in the bottom of a wide skillet with a lid.

Lightly season salmon fillets with salt and pepper, then place them, skin side down, on the lemon slices, shallot, and fennel. Scatter dill around the pan and on top of the salmon. Pour in water and wine; the liquid does not need to cover the salmon.

Place skillet over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. When liquid is aggressively simmering (not boiling), turn the heat to low and cover skillet with its lid. Cook until an internal temperature thermometer reads between 125°F to 130°F, 5–12 minutes, depending on how thick the salmon fillets are. I recommend using two spatulas to remove the fish from the pan so it remains whole while transferring it to a plate.

NATIONAL SEAFOOD GUIDE from Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Many fish we enjoy are in trouble, due to destructive fishing and farming practices.

Seafood Watch assesses how specific fisheries or farms perform against their rigorous standards. You can make a difference for our oceans by making responsible seafood choices. Learn more about best choices, good alternatives, and what to avoid at seafoodwatch.org.

Seafood Watch recommends FARMED SALMON as a “Best Choice” or “Good Alternative,” depending on the farming method and body of water. All Atlantic salmon is farmed, and there’s no commercial fishing for this species in the US. • Buy Atlantic salmon farmed in Maine.

• Buy Atlantic salmon farmed in the Faroe Islands, Denmark.

• Buy Atlantic salmon certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).

• Avoid Atlantic salmon farmed in Canada, Chile, Norway, or Scotland, except when purchasing from businesses committed to sustainable seafood, or if it is ASC certified.

Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch

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“B

ut without kids to return to the state’s farms and ranches, and the agricultural traditions that they preserve, what will become of these nourishing places?”

Grassland restoration is ongoing at Ute Creek Cattle Company in Clayton as invasive cholla cactus is removed, photo courtesy of Tuda Libby Crews.

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FARMS TOO SHALL PASS AS NEW MEXICAN FARMERS BECOME ELDERS, WHO WILL TAKE UP THEIR MANTLE—AND WHERE?

By Sarah Mock

N

ew Mexico’s farmland has seen it all. For thousands of years, some part of the state’s fertile riverbanks, high mountain valleys, and yawning prairies have helped nourish dozens of Native tribes, conquistadores and Spanish settlers, norteños and revolutionaries, and American newcomers of countless persuasions. Just about every possible crop has risen up from these farms and ranches, including many generations of homegrown New Mexicans.

“I wonder about a ‘missing generation’ [of farm kids],” Woodbury says. Thinking about his own childhood spent on the farm in the 1980s, he remembers seeing a lot of economic strain and discussion of whether or not there was a future in farming. It follows that witnessing the hardships of farm life would encourage heirs to plan their futures elsewhere. But without kids to return to the state’s farms and ranches, and the agricultural traditions that they preserve, what will become of these nourishing places?

Who will farm next? is, therefore, not a new question. But for the current generation of New Mexican farmers, this question often lacks a straightforward answer. And given that according to the US Department of Agriculture, the average age of New Mexican farmers today is north of sixty years old, the timeline for determining the fate of the state’s farms and farmland is shortening at the same time that it’s growing more complicated.

That question is one that Crews and her family have taken on directly as they imagine the future of Ute Creek. She wanted to help her children and grandchildren avoid some of the pitfalls she and her siblings faced, and to find a way to ensure that the ranch would be preserved for ranching in perpetuity.

The simplest possibility—passing on farms and ranches to the kids who grew up in the business—is trickier than it sounds.

“Like many families in agriculture,” reports Tuda Libby Crews, owner of Ute Creek Cattle Company in Clayton, “the siblings could not come together.”

Crews and her four siblings are seventh-generation heirs to a historic cattle ranch in northeastern New Mexico. Despite decades spent away, she always knew she’d return to the ranch where she grew up, and she did so in the mid-2000s. After her parents passed, the issues that the adult siblings faced—distances of all kinds— meant that in the end, the single family ranch had to be divided into five individual properties.

“It was a very difficult and painful experience, and costly on many levels,” Crews says, and though the family has worked through the pain and anger since, the properties have remained separated so that each sibling could make their own decisions.

As Crews points out, this is not an uncommon occurrence in agriculture today, especially as fewer farm and ranch heirs aim to return and cultivate the land themselves. Though there is no specific data gathered around this trend, people like Lance Woodbury, a farmland succession expert based in Missouri, have anecdotally noticed more and more cases where children have not or do not plan to return.

This led her to a conversation with the New Mexico Land Conservancy, an organization that is helping secure a conservation easement on the ranch. These easements are a type of property right that prevents land from being subdivided or developed in the future. This is especially critical given that research by the American Farmland Trust suggests that more than 200,000 acres of farmland in New Mexico are at risk of being developed or otherwise converted in the next fifteen years. While Bernalillo County farmland is, predictably, being developed the fastest, rural counties like Colfax, where Ute Creek is located, are also at risk. And easements can do more than prevent land from being turned into condos or parking lots.

“Easements are a tool that protect lands from being developed while allowing continued agricultural use, and can provide landowners with additional resources to keep doing what they’re doing,” says Raena Kamakahi, conservation project manager at the conservancy, which has established more than 130 easements covering 700,000 acres.

The work she’s referring to, in many cases, is conservation efforts and habitat restoration. The Ute Creek Cattle Company fits that mold, as Crews and her family have worked hard to regenerate their land, doing everything from removing invasive tamarisk (also called salt cedar) along their ten miles of creek to improving soil health and building a bird sanctuary.

“This work isn’t just for the next five or ten years,” Kamakahi says of the conservation easement they’re creating to safeguard the Crews’ EDIBLENM.COM

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The fenced twenty-three-acre TLC Wild Bird Sanctuary at Ute Creek Cattle Company provides water, food, and habitat for short-grass prairie birds to breed, nest, and raise their young, photo courtesy of Tuda Libby Crews.

work. “We’re able to protect this land in perpetuity. It helps with water quality, wildlife, and just keeping food production in our local communities. We’re protecting that forever.” Especially for farms near urban centers, conservation easements can help relieve the pressure farmers face to sell their land for development, and landowners are compensated, either with cash or tax incentives, for making this long-term commitment.

make it more accessible for next-generation and underserved farmers, especially farmers of color. Isabelle Jenniches, cofounder of NM Healthy Soil and one of the NM Agrarian Commons’ founding board members, says that this structure gives current and retiring farmers and landowners an impactful way to pass on their farmland while ensuring it stays in agriculture and continues feeding their communities.

An added benefit of conservation easements is that they can make owning farmland more accessible to young and beginning farmers.

For many current farmers and landowners who’d like to see their land stay in agriculture, they find that young would-be farmers simply lack the resources to compete for land against developers. This alone motivates some landowners to pursue a conservation easement, or to work with organizations like New Mexico LandLink, which, since 2023, has been connecting existing farmers and landowners with those interested in continuing to use the land for agriculture.

“It honestly sells itself,” Jenniches says of the unconventional model. “People are really motivated by a love of land, a connection to it. It’s a beautiful interplay between culture and ecology.” In discussions she’s had with everyone from landowners and farmers to community members, the idea has proven popular and continues to win support—especially because finding ways to ensure that new farmers have durable and equitable access to land is critical to advancing work around biodiversity, water quality, and ecosystem health.

Another group, the New Mexico Agrarian Commons, is taking this work a step further. This collaboration between New Mexican nonprofits aims to own and preserve farmland in the state and 70

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“How can you ask people to invest in soil health,” Jenniches asks, “when farmers don’t know if they’re going to be here next year or next month?” Signing ninety-year leases with participating farmers is one way the group plans to empower farmers to make long-term

Left: Implementing conservation practices has increased wildlife species and numbers at Ute Creek, photo courtesy of Bulldog Mesa Outdoors.

Right: Angus cows with calves thrive on healthy grasslands at the ranch, photo courtesy of Tuda Libby Crews.

investments not only in the health of the land but in their local communities as well.

But transitioning a farm is more than just a question of what farmers hope for their farm. Another issue is that farmers are not only farming longer, but Americans in general are living longer too, and both late-life health issues and the simple desire for a slower, less physical retirement often means that when farmers reach retirement age, selling the land is necessary. Farming is not an occupation that usually involves a pension.

Today, selling farmland is itself a fraught decision, not least because in addition to the destiny of the land itself, potential sellers can also sell other kinds of property, like mineral and water rights. Demand for water rights in the state continues to grow, especially as Santa Fe and Albuquerque expand, but concerns about the process of selling rights out of agricultural communities, and the threat this poses to old agrarian traditions, is growing too.

Polvadera farmer Joaquín Luján isn’t as worried about preserving the land for his kids as he is about preserving his farm’s water rights, and the power that comes along with those rights, for his community.

His small property has senior rights, which gives him a strong voice on local water issues. This is increasingly important as more and more water along the Rio Grande is sold for nonagricultural uses, and he’s seen how the displacement of the water from the sale of nearby properties impacts neighborhoods like his.

“Off the Rio Grande, there’s less and less community and more and more commercial,” he says. He fears his young neighbors, who are trying to become the next generation of farmers and ranchers, have almost no chance of getting water access for farming when they’re up against major businesses and municipalities from across the state.

Though Luján is slowing down now that he’s in his seventies and his wife is interested in being closer to kids and grandkids, he is holding on with the hope that there’s an opportunity to make the farm, the water it uses, and the land it occupies a durable part of the local fabric.

“I’m looking toward some kind of entity that might continue to use the farm as a school,” he explains, thinking it would be a good destination for South Valley Albuquerque schoolkids who he’s already connected to through his longtime work with the SouthWest Organizing Project.

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Joaquín Luján's farm in Polvadera, Rancho Entre Dos Acequias, photos courtesy of Joaquín Luján.

Luján, like many farmers, is on the lookout for a unique opportunity to transition his farm in a way that preserves the integrity of the land and its special role in the local culture. This aim is not easy to achieve, and many farmers never do. The reality is that at the end of their careers, many farmers will hang up their tools for the last time, and the land they tended will pass on either to another farmer or rancher or to someone else, and the land will go by a different name, likely transition to a different use, and have a different destiny.

This question of farm and farmland succession is a difficult and painful one to discuss, for farmers maybe most of all. Many farmers that I reached out to for this story were not interested in talking about it, partly for the same reason that anyone might resist discussing their succession plan with a journalist: To do so requires publicly confronting our own inevitable demise. Compound that with the painful decisions involved in reducing a sacred space to a piece of paper and divvying up your life’s work or alienating your children, and that makes for a nasty landscape of pitfalls and land mines that most would rather avoid.

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“It took me almost ten years to get in touch with my own mortality,” Tuda Libby Crews shared during our conversation. “But once you cross that threshold about dying, it’s so much easier to deal with.” Though her children and grandchildren probably won’t operate Ute Creek Cattle Company directly in the future, Crews still envisions it as a place the family will enjoy and have oversight of, alongside an on-the-ground ranch manager. When she thinks about the future of the land, she envisions a space of abundance, one that continues the legacy her family has built.

“What [my ancestors] went through, it’s staggering,” she says, reflecting on the long history of her home place. “I have such reverence and respect for that. It pushes me, it sustains me, and it guides me along the way.” For Crews, her ancestors helped guide her toward the preservation of both a beautiful and a useful landscape, one that feeds humans and animals, domestic and wild, and will continue to do so long after she passes on.

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FROM POP-UP TO BRICK AND MORTAR THREE CULINARY ENTREPRENEURS OPEN THEIR DOORS Words and Photos by Ungelbah Dávila

Ryan Houlihan and Jennifer Jane at the future location of Wolf 'N' Swallow.

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Ropa vieja and vegan casados at Buen Provecho.

W

hat makes a market magical? Mystery. No two are ever the same, and that sense of wonder and experimentation brings makers and seekers together in mutual exploration. Artisan and farmers markets allow creators to bravely test out the popularity of their ideas, while shoppers—and diners—get to fall in love with creations they never knew existed, all without too much overhead or commitment. In Albuquerque, a thriving brewery and distillery scene offers food trucks and pop-ups a similar opportunity for introduction and discovery.

These venues are a place to sample the diversity of a community and find new styles and flavors that are worth coming back for.

For culinary entrepreneurs, popping up at farmers markets and public spaces like bars and coffee shops is a low-stakes way to introduce people to their food, get to know their fans, create a following, and perfect their brand in an intimate setting before deciding to take things to the next level. For these three Albuquerque-based eateries, the transition to brick and mortar didn’t happen overnight. They took the time to, literally, test the market first.

Buen Provecho Buen Provecho opened the doors on their sit-down restaurant at El Vado Motel in October 2024, after six years of serving from one of the property’s food pods and three years of selling at markets before that.

Owner Kattia Rojas moved to the United States from Costa Rica twenty-five years ago with a marketing degree and a plan to spend just a month in the States practicing her English. But then, she fell in love with the man who would become her husband—and with cooking.

In 2015, Rojas graduated from Central New Mexico Community College as a pastry chef and started selling her Costa Rican tamales, desserts, jams, and pickled peppers at pop-ups and farmers markets.

She discovered that people loved her food and wanted more. So in 2018 she quit selling at markets and began cooking, selling, and catering out of a small kitchen at El Vado, where the menu consisted of the Costa Rican foods she grew up eating.

When Rojas moved into the kitchen at El Vado, it was just her and her husband. Now she has fifteen employees. Where before folks picked up their arroz con pollo and maduros from a counter in the kitchen and ate on the food court patio or in the onsite Ponderosa Brewing taproom, or took their food to go, now she offers inside seating for twenty-five.

“We have fifty items on the menu,” she says. “That’s a huge menu for this tiny kitchen because my mind is huge! Normally in a small kitchen you just see tamales or burgers, but I do it all: appetizers, drinks, meals, desserts.”

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Left: Owner Kattia Rojas at Buen Provecho. Right: Platter of Buen Provecho favorites, with empanadas, patacones, maduros, yuca fries, and queso frito.

Rojas thinks part of her quick success is that Costa Rican cuisine is an uncommon offering but resonates with a New Mexican palate because it relies on familiar ingredients like beans, rice, corn tortillas, and slow-cooked pork, prepared in a way most people have never experienced and paired with tropical elements like green or sweet plantains, pineapple, passion fruit, lime, and yuca. Her beef-and-potato empanadas are among her most popular dishes, as well as the pork, chicken, vegetarian, and vegan tamales done “tico style”—wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks, and stuffed with unexpected ingredients like rice, peas, or olives—that Yelp declared the best tamales in New Mexico in 2023. During the Christmas season, they can sell upward of a thousand tamales in two days.

“If you go to Costa Rica, you’re going to have the same type of food but served in a different way, because I’m more modern,” says Rojas. “I like beautiful plates. I like strong flavors. I like people to remember my food.”

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Wolf ’N’ Swallow For Jennifer Jane and Ryan Houlihan, a.k.a. Chef Houla, the road to their restaurant is currently paved in renovation dust. The couple, who relocated to Albuquerque from New Orleans in 2022, have been in the restaurant industry for years. But it was during the pandemic era that Chef Houla started dabbling with canning, pickling, and pop-ups.

“We started doing the farm box thing and we would get so many vegetables and fruits that we didn’t know what to do with it,” says Jane. “So [Ryan] started making charcuterie provisions without realizing it. We got super into homesteading, basically, in the middle of New Orleans, experimenting with making our own butter, and he started curing his own meats.”

They started hosting charcuterie pop-ups around the Crescent City, and when they moved west, they brought their pop-up project with them, selling their goods at breweries, bars, and distilleries like Sister

Jennifer Jane and Ryan Houlihan, a.k.a. Chef Houla, before renovations at 414 Central Avenue SE.

and Bow & Arrow Brewing Co. Houla’s creative approach to craft charcuterie earned Wolf ’N’ Swallow a fast following, with boards featuring things like pineapple-upside-down-cake-flavored pickled pineapples and green tea matcha marshmallow bread in addition to the cured meats denoted by the term charcuterie.

The couple fell in love with the location, full of quirky, midcentury

“I would just show up, throw up my folding tables, set up my meat slicer, all my pickles, all my dried fruit, nuts, and have everything out and ready,” says Houla.

and kitchen staff alike, a new cooling system.

It wasn’t long before the couple started looking for a building where they could bring their “guerilla kitchen” to a permanent location, with a full menu and wine bar.

massive change, but it’s going to look more or less exactly the same

“We knew that we wanted to be in the EDo [East Downtown] neighborhood,” says Jane. “We just kept driving by and looking around, and just being like, there’s got to be something here.”

cheese, crudités, and anchovy tartine, along with a thoughtfully

What they found was a hidden gem at 414 Central Avenue SE, in a compound that the landlord had inherited from his grandmother.

fish.” Chef Houla will also offer his signature charcuterie boards with

flair, which was formerly the site of 2G’s Bistro. They started renovating the building in October 2024, putting in new wiring and piping and overhauling the kitchen, and hope to be open by February 2025.

The planned upgrades include a wine cellar and, happily for diners “It’s almost like a rehabilitation. We want to enhance this building as much as we can, and we are,” says Jane. “It’s going to be a on the outside.”

Wolf ’N’ Swallow’s menu will offer snacks like house pimento sourced selection of tinned seafood and vegan conservas such as Ekone habanero-smoked oysters or Seed to Surf celery root “whitepickled produce, spreads, breads, and more, which will change daily.

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Left: Owner Kelly Gee at The Witching Flour Bakery. Right: Distinctive Witching Flour pastries.

The Witching Flour Bakery With about two hundred dollars in her pocket and a burning desire to be her own boss, Kelly Gee, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in San Francisco, started The Witching Flour Bakery in 2018.

As a trained pastry chef, Gee skipped the pop-up part and went right to wholesale. She signed up for the Mixing Bowl Incubation Program at the South Valley Economic Development Center and began using their commercial kitchen to create pastries for local coffee shops like Zendo, Little Bear, Slow Burn, and Castle Coffee.

“I kind of went into it all sort of blindly,” she says, “but social media helped a lot to grow my business, and, luckily, people were pretty receptive to my creativity, which was motivating. I feel like a lot of artists have insecurities because it’s a pretty vulnerable thing to share this side of yourself, but everyone’s so wonderful and supportive and sweet. And I just can’t believe how lucky I am. Honestly, it’s pretty neat.”

Along with using sourdough starter for all her pastries, Gee’s whimsical aesthetic and unexpected flavor profiles make Witching Flour distinct. “You can pretty much put anything in a danish,” she jokes, and it isn’t until you bite into a green bean casserole danish or a black 78

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rice and mango kolache with violet syrup that the method to Gee’s madness makes sense.

Even with widespread popularity, including ten thousand followers on Instagram, Gee says that making pastries for wholesale out of a shared kitchen eventually became unsustainable, and a storefront bakery had always been her endgame, anyway. So in 2021, Josh Castleberry, owner of Castle Coffee, helped Gee find a space zoned for baking. They spent the next two years getting permits in order, buying equipment, and setting up a bakery space. Then, on Halloween of 2023, Gee’s dream came true at 1431 Eubank Boulevard NE, where she opened the doors of The Witching Flour Bakery.

Open Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm, or until sold out, the bustling bakery has a constantly changing menu, sometimes themed to complement the season or approaching holiday, such as the goth menu she offered last October.

“I think besides being able to create fun flavors that people are excited about, the funnest part for me is that my aesthetic at the bakery is a direct reflection of my own personality. It is really fun that I can share that with people, and that they like it too,” she says.

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FROM THE STREET

TOMEETTHE KITCHEN THE PEOPLE CULTIVATING TRANSFORMATION THROUGH FOOD

By Briana Olson

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1

LESSONS FROM THE GARDEN

The marigolds are peaking when I visit La Plazita Gardens. It’s a clear, calm October morning, and given the ground we’ve covered—turnips and carrots and toxic influences, self-hatred and soil and ceremony—it’s hard to believe that I’ve only been here an hour when the conversation turns to the colonial ban on amaranth. The amaranth here is an autumn pink, almost pale behind the bright orange rows. The heirloom seeds that former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland helped plant are now calabazas: hardy winter squashes in white, orange, deep and pale green.

“They would say it was a devil plant,” says farmer and kitchen manager Siddiq Silguero. Amaranth was banned, explains Jasmyne Muñoz, La Plazita Institute’s food justice navigator, because the nutrient-rich grains, consumed during Native ceremonies, were a source of power. “They were also banning the ceremonies,” adds Juan Gonzalez, farm lead and master gardener.

Growing amaranth here makes sense; reclaiming culture is central to the work at La Plazita Institute. The nonprofit, founded in Albuquerque’s historically agricultural South Valley in 2004, is rooted in the philosophy that la cultura cura, culture heals.

Amaranth is a companion plant, a teacher, and sometimes, the team admits, a pretty annoying weed. It’s also tempting as a metaphor: Amaranth is tenacious. Despite colonizers’ efforts to suppress it, the plant, now recognized as a superfood, survived. And the work at La Plazita is rooted in finding hope and possibility in what, and whom, many in society have written off.

“I looked up to killers and people that sold drugs. I sold drugs, I sold crack, I sold coke, I sold weed,” Silguero says, describing his teenage years. “I went to prison for armed robbery and selling drugs.

I went to the federal penitentiary for possession of a firearm. . . . So, like, my life, it wasn’t in the garden at all,” he says. “Now I have kids, now I’m a dad, now I’m a leader in the community. Now I’m a farmer.

I never saw myself as that.”

Siddiq Silguero, Armando Rivera, and Juan Gonzalez, core farm team at La Plazita Gardens.

Like many farms in the South Valley, this one feels like a secret garden. It’s messy and beautiful and productive in the way that only small, diversified farms can be. It’s also, as Silguero points out, a classroom. At the south end, there’s a gathering place, a circle of seating with a whiteboard filled with words and phrases that resemble notes from a codex.

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Deb Haaland with Siddiq Silguero and members of the Barrio Youth Corps at La Plazita Gardens, photo by Lonnie Anderson.

“The farm program originated as a way to give system-impacted or previously incarcerated people an opportunity to put some money in their pockets,” says Silguero. Now, the program has a small, full-time staff who, with the help of the Barrio Youth Corps, tend this garden as well as one at Bernalillo County’s Sanchez Farm; processes vegetables at the kitchen at La Plazita’s headquarters; and distributes vegetables, at no cost and no questions asked, to members of the community every Friday. They also sell some produce to the Bernalillo County Youth Services Center, the state’s largest juvenile detention center, where Muñoz leads a nutrition and garden program.

Visiting with members of the Barrio Youth Corps, funded last year through the Department of the Interior, was the occasion for Haaland’s trip to the farm in June 2024. La Plazita’s philosophy of healing through culture resonated with Haaland, a recovered alcoholic and the first Native American to serve as a US cabinet secretary. In addition to working with the farm program, the corps members, all system-impacted youth between the ages of seventeen and twentyseven, also do some conservation work with the Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps.

“The earth gives us everything that we need to sustain ourselves.

And I think that growing up, especially in the inner city, we’re so far removed from that,” says Silguero, who’s from Albuquerque’s 82

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International District and, like many youth he’s worked with here, had little access to fresh vegetables, much less to the experience of watching food grow from seed. “Yeah, we saw spinach on Popeye, but we never seen it grown,” he adds. “So to have the kids come in here and work the soil, get their hands dirty, plant the seeds, and then harvest the vegetables, process them—that’s what we call medicine.”

Sharing knowledge and talking with the community, Gonzalez says, is also therapeutic. “That’s something that we take pride of, being able to share this fruit with everyone.”

Gazing over the rows, Muñoz reflects on how she sometimes looks at her work as “a full farm-to-table experience.” Because the use of tools at the detention center is limited, she often preps food in her kitchen at La Plazita’s headquarters, then guides the youths inside—some as young as eleven and twelve—in putting it together.

“A lot of the work that comes from the programming is palate development, knowledge on what kind of nutritional content each vegetable holds, and then, how does that influence your mood? Because we deal with a lot of children who have behavioral health issues, we deal with symptoms of anxiety and depression. So using food to combat that . . . it’s kind of like building nutritional value.”

A few weeks later, I caught up with La Plazita’s founder and executive director, Albino Garcia, whose own lived experience

Seed & Bloom students with mezze and bouquets, photo by Briana Olson.

underpins the nonprofit’s mission and work. Quoting Greg Boyle, the LA gang interventionist who founded Homeboy Industries, Garcia said, “Nothing stops a bullet better than a job,” then clarified, “Nothing sustains stopping a bullet better than a meaningful job.”

And, he said, “There’s something meaningful about putting food in the mouths of others.” Turning back to the Barrio Youth Corps, he said, “A couple of them have car payments now, they pay insurance, they’re renters. And they’re doing meaningful jobs. Why can’t we build more of that up rather than more incarceration?”

That October morning at La Plazita’s headquarters, Muñoz met me in the little plaza formed by the buildings that house their various programs. We talked about the healing role of ceremonies—there are two sweat lodges onsite, one Lakota style and one Aztec—and bent to pick some sage from the medicine garden.

As I rubbed it between my fingers and breathed in its pungent, soothing scent, she described the herb as a grounding force, not only for her students but for herself. Plant medicine, she said, offers a different way of connecting and being accountable for our actions. I crawled into the temazcalli, an earthen dome with low entry points facing east and west. Briefly, I felt inarticulate fear, then a flood of calm.

2

A FAR & AWAY PICNIC

It’s lunch hour when I pull up to Penitentiary Road on Highway 14. Like many, I tend to ignore this stretch of highway, but it feels uncomplicated to enter the Penitentiary of New Mexico. At the entry gate, a guard comments on my earrings as he checks my ID, then tells me that the MRU (minimumrestrictive unit) will be on the right. Views are long as I pass staff residences and a building emblazoned “Prison Industries”; landscaping is minimal. The MRU itself is unassuming, essentially a gray rectangle ensnared with razor wire, and a small yard abuts the fence that runs between the building and the parking lot.

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Hydroponics tower and Seed & Bloom students with freshly harvested greens, photos by Briana Olson.

Inside, I find Gunjan Koul, founder and director of Seed & Bloom, a horticulture and culinary arts program that’s been operating in the prison since spring 2024. Koul came to horticultural therapy as a nurse working in patient education in New York City; she did a residency at the oldest existing prison garden in the US, arguably the best feature at Rikers Island, and then worked with youth detention centers in all five boroughs before moving to New Mexico.

The makeshift classroom is bright and festive, with stations set up at four tables, each holding a basket full of ingredients. I mill about, hearing from one student about his vision for a transitional program with tiny homes and greenhouses for people to grow and be able to feed themselves when they first get out of prison. Then I sit down next to a large vessel filled with blooms—marigolds, orange roses, baby's breath—and inhale their rich aromas as Koul presents an overview of the day’s class. “This event is a celebration of your spirit,” she says.

One of the students’ first tasks is to put together a bouquet for their table—something they tell me they’ve practiced in two previous sessions, which might explain how naturally they go about it.

Because the kitchen is available only in the evening and access to tools in this room is limited, Koul has designed a mostly raw menu and brought some premade components. A bottle of white vinegar, a jar of tahini, and a container of chopped almonds are lined up on the table where one group has been assigned to prepare a salad made 84

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with quinoa, peaches, and greens. At another table, students chop bell peppers and cucumbers using a plastic butter knife.

As the students assemble their dishes, they tell me what appealed to them about this class. Many have a personal connection to growing: a grandfather who grows chile, a mother and girlfriend who love plants, growing up with a garden or in a farming community. One student says he’s writing a prison cookbook called “Shrimp Soup,” with tips on how to create kitchen tools using resources available in prison, like turning an empty can of Nescafé into a shredder. Another describes his plan to go off grid and be self-sufficient when he gets out. Growing food, he says, is “a good trade to know—maybe the best one,” and he wants his kids to have that skill.

Students have already completed a food safety course with New Mexico Grown, in the hope that they can sell produce they grow through mobile markets and/or to the prison itself. First, with the help of Ashokra Farms, a handful of students will repair two onsite greenhouses; then the whole class will test growing conditions with winter crops. In the meantime, they’re taking lessons in hydroponics from Charlie Schulz, academic director of Santa Fe Community College’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Program. Partway through the meal preparation, Schulz leads a huddle by the hydroponics tower. He quizzes students on what plants need—CO2, light, water—and reviews the basics of managing the tower, then shares one of his earliest lessons in gardening: You always give the first harvest away.

Above and left: Scenes from a Seed & Bloom session in the kitchen at the state penitentiary. Lower right: Quinoa salad for Seed & Bloom's Far & Away Picnic. Photos by Briana Olson.

Central to Seed & Bloom’s mission is that the participants themselves derive something from their work, that it be “a food program that feeds the students in the program.” But as all growers and cooks know, there is joy in sharing, and Deputy Warden Ralph Lucero, roaming the room, is pressed to partake of the dishes the students have made.

As the room loses its adornments after the class, Koul draws my attention to the way it normally looks: bureaucratic and beige. It strikes me that teaching her students how the accumulation of details creates an atmosphere is both a lesson in professional presentation and an exercise in imagination.

Later, Lucero tells me that for the first eighteen years of his career, he was old school: “Let’s lock them down and don’t let them do nothing.” Then a warden made him participate in a seminary program and he saw how it changed people’s lives, made them accountable, and decreased violence. Now his vision is to offer as much programming as possible, to increase the chances of success on the outside, because most incarcerated people will get out, “and they’re going to be my mother’s neighbor, and I would rather have a productive member of society, know that I gave him the tools to be successful.”

A month later, when I return to attend a Seed & Bloom session in the prison’s kitchen, the students are even more self-directed.

At one point, a student appears with a kitchen towel tossed over his shoulder and offers me a sample of the asparagus that will be added to one of the dishes, a spin on fettuccine alfredo inspired by his own recipe. Food and joy, food and power, food and connection, food and beauty—these were prompts for reflection assigned to each group at the Far & Away picnic, but tonight I witness something else: pride.

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Chef Fernando Ruiz in the kitchen at the state penitentiery; EINNM culinary program students prepare to break down whole lamb.

Photos by Brittany Roembach.

3

AMENDS, WITH A SIDE OF TACOS

“I don’t know what it is about prison or jail, but you’re always gonna be hungry,” says Chef Fernando Ruiz. We’re sitting on the patio at Escondido, talking about the path that led him here. With us is Ralph Martinez, his partner in kick-starting a culinary program in the penitentiary and creating the nonprofit Entrepreneurial Institute of Northern New Mexico (EINNM).

Ruiz talks about the perks of working the kitchen in prison—all the food you want, occasional access to T-bone steaks, food to trade for cigarettes—and about his teenage years, when he embarked on what could have become a life (or death) sentence but instead became the detour that led him to the life he has now, celebrity chef and co-owner of this restaurant.

“I grew up in Phoenix, in a little town called Guadalupe,” he says.

“I got jumped into a gang at thirteen. I got shot when I was fifteen.

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Started selling drugs at thirteen, carrying guns at fourteen. First time I got busted I was fifteen, and I got busted with a pound of methamphetamines, a quarter kilo of cocaine, and four stolen guns.

At fifteen.” Eventually, he ended up in Maricopa County’s infamous Tent City jail, angling for jobs in the kitchen. There, he discovered that he could cook, and that cooking was fun.

Martinez tells me an inverse but parallel story: As a young father, he became addicted to cocaine and heroin and, within five years, lost everything. “I lost my family, I lost my home, I lost my self-identity.”

Homeless, he spent six years living under bridges, in the bosque, and in and out of jail. “I remember I would get clean when I was in jail. I would start looking good, thinking good, and I would say, ‘You know what? This is it. When I get out, that’s it. I’m done,’” he says. But he’d burned bridges with family and friends, so after a few days out, feeling defeated, he would turn back to the life he knew.

That feeling, of being set up to fail, is what Ruiz and Martinez hope to counter not only with the culinary program inside the prison but by building pathways to employment for participants who get out.

The model starts here, at Escondido, where Ruiz has already made a habit of offering jobs to folks that usual hiring protocols might filter out. Among the restaurant’s team members who have been arrested or incarcerated is one young man who completed a trial run of the culinary program, held at The Kitchen Table Santa Fe in spring 2024.

Left: Miguel Tapia setting a table for the formal dinner at the end of the EINNM culinary program's first in-prison session.

Center: Chef Fernando Ruiz and Ralph Martinez. Right: Red Chile Glazed Shrimp Skewers served at the dinner. Photos by Brittany Roembach.

And they tell me they’re planning to pick up Miguel Tapia, a top student from the first in-prison cohort, right from the prison gates.

When Ruiz first floated the idea of a culinary class in the prison, the two say, the restaurant wasn’t even an idea. During the pandemic, they’d collaborated on distributing Christmas gifts and care boxes to kids and seniors in Española, and Martinez, as the cofounder of Española’s first homeless shelter, was versed in making a case to elected officials. They got it off the ground with the help of Jamai Blivin, cofounder of EINNM and founder of the workforce-focused nonprofit Innovate+Educate—and no shortage of persistence.

“I didn’t think they would be supportive in any way,” Ruiz says of the prison, but “come to find out, there is a ton of programs in there . . . and apparently they’d been looking for someone to do a culinary program.” One reason for the interest, according to Deputy Director of Reentry Haven Scogin, is that they’re looking at “what positions have need, what industries are growing, and how can we create a workforce inside the prison facility that can meet the needs of the employers in the community?”

That doesn’t mean that the corrections department is directly funding these programs. The first material support for the culinary program came through Andrea Romero, a state representative for Santa Fe County who allocated $75,000 in seed money. Once the pilot at Kitchen Table was underway and the department officially approved the course, Blivin was able to help secure funds for the first in-prison session through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. In the course, which met three evenings a week, students butchered whole chicken and lamb, something Ruiz first learned to do on his grandfather’s ranch in Sonora. They made salsas and tacos that attracted the attention of corrections officers. They learned the basics of culinary

math as well as the basics of professionalism and resume writing. “We taught them pro skills without them even knowing we were teaching them pro skills,” Ruiz says. And according to Warden Chelsea White, the students also took away something as invaluable as it is intangible: evidence that somebody believed in them. As Scogin puts it, “It has a different hit to inmates when it’s someone from their own communities who come in, who say we want you, we’re going to educate you. And when you leave here? I want you to work at my business.”

Martinez glows as he describes the five-course meal that crowned that session. Participants prepared the meal and set the tables, and one joined high-level guests, from top prison brass to legislators, at each four-person table. “By this time, we already went through the whole pro-skills portion of learning how to conduct yourself professionally versus privately, right? Look at somebody in the eyes when you’re talking to them, speak with confidence.” Still, the graduates were nervous. Ultimately, they got a boost from learning “that these people that sit in high places are just normal,” while legislators learned more or less the same from them.

When I talked with Ruiz and Martinez again, Tapia had walked free two weeks prior, and it was his first day at work at Escondido. He was floored by the support he’d been receiving—they’d helped him sort out basic needs, from housing to securing an ID to opening a bank account, and launched a GoFundMe on his behalf. Speaking of the batch of house chorizo he’d made, Tapia commented that Ruiz has a good recipe. But the chef was intent on giving credit where it’s due: “Miguel just made it, he tasted it, and I said ‘You made it.’”

Ruiz expressed his thanks to the community for their support— and for listening. “I hope they prosper from it too,” Tapia said. “The people who’ve helped me, I hope they prosper from it too.”

EDIBLENM.COM

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LAST CALL

RED CHILE SIMPLE SYRUP

Makes 1 cup Level: Easy; Prep time: 5 minutes; Cook time: 5 minutes; Total time: 10 minutes

Red chile simple syrup is the easiest way to spice up your drinks with sweet heat, and you can dial the spice to your desired level with different chiles. Consider guajillo or pasilla peppers for a mild fruit flavor, morita or cascabel peppers for a smoky flavor, or ancho or New Mexico chile nativo for an earthy flavor—each syrup complements drinks differently.

Use this to make killer chile-lime soda, spice up an old-fashioned, or bump up your hot chocolate or latte. You can even drizzle it on roasted veggies like sweet potatoes or brussels sprouts. The vanilla bean is optional and adds another layer of flavor to your syrup.

1 cup sugar 1 cup water 4–5 whole red chiles of your choice 1 vanilla bean (optional) In a small saucepan, gently simmer sugar and water until sugar dissolves.

Remove from heat and set aside.

Remove stems and seeds from chile pods. Toast chiles in a pan over medium heat until they are fragrant, about 5 minutes. Cut vanilla bean into pieces that are about 2–3 inches in length. In a blender, combine chiles, simple syrup, and vanilla bean.

Strain through a cheesecloth. Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

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edible New Mexico | LATE WINTER 2025

Photo by Stephanie Cameron.

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