Taste of Tucson

Jackie Alpers is a cookbook author, recipe developer, and award-winning food photographer. She writes and photographs a monthly column for FoodNetwork.com and contributes to Food Network Magazine, Refinery29, Real Simple, The Kitchn, and Edible Baja Arizona Magazine. Her work has been featured on Reader’s Digest, CNN, and NPR, and her blog Jackie’s Happy Plate has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Glamour, Better Homes and Gardens, Brit + Co, and Buzzfeed Food. Jackie happily cooks from her kitchen in Tucson, AZ. Visit her at jackiealpers.com and see her blog at jackieshappyplate.com.

"More than simply creating a cookbook devoted to Tucson, food photographer and blogger Alpers, a contributor to foodnetwork.com, has produced a laid-back, approachable entry to Sonoran cuisine. . . A chapter on various spice blends and salsas is a highlight. The collection is enhanced with contributions from local chefs, along with Alpers's own photography, allowing readers to visualize each dish. . . Not just with regional appeal, this cookbook will find a welcome home among anyone looking to recreate Southwestern classics."--Library Journal"More of us have spent time in our own kitchens over the past year. For some, that has actually meant a lot of time by the microwave or unpacking the order that was just delivered. But for many others, it’s meant cooking--sometimes from old family recipes and others of a more innovative bent. Jackie Alpers had begun work on her book Taste of Tucson: Sonoran-Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona prior to the pandemic, but its collection of recipes from some of southern Arizona's favorite spots offers the chance to make the home kitchen a creative place."--KJZZ's The Show (Tucson)"A cookbook can double as a travel guide, helping the reader experience a city or region through its cuisine. . . The tastes of the U.S. Southwest inspired this collection of recipes from the Sonora region. Food columnist and photographer Alpers helps those new to the area's cuisines stock their pantries--staples include beef tripe, chia seeds, and chipotle chiles in adobo--and provides cheerful, encouraging direction for cooks of all levels."--Publishers Weekly"In addition to staples like cheese crisps, Alpers has an entire section on Mexican snack foods including El Guero's Sonoran hot dogs, recipes for tostilocos and tostinachos, even a hot dog taco. This sets the book apart from previous Tucson cookbooks, which tend to focus on homestyle Mexican restaurants with servers and combo plates. (Although, the book does have some of that too.)"--Arizona Daily Star"Jackie's Happy Plate blogger Alpers celebrates the cuisine of Tucson, Ariz., in this informative debut cookbook. . . Fans of Southwestern cuisine will appreciate this flavorful recipe collection."--Publishers Weekly"Taste of Tucson is an inordinately fun and accessible guide to a distinctive regional American cuisine."--Foreword Reviews"A bold, colorful collection of recipes that include molletes, an open-faced breakfast sandwich, cream of avocado soup, and shrimp with creamy goat cheese-poblano sauce. Jackie's recipes are packed with a flavor punch and I am eyeing the desert dessert nachos and potato salad with chile-lime vinaigrette and red onion."--Eat Your Books (blog)