Courtesy of Arizona Daily Star, Levi J. Long Some are drawn to the pollo con mole enchiladas at El Charro Café. Others crave the tastes of vegan dandelion salads. And some are plunking down hundreds or thousands of dollars for stays at Southern Arizona resorts and retreats that feature cooking and nutrition classes.

Whatever travelers’ culinary desires, Tucson’s $2.5 billion-per-year hospitality industry is offering a smorgasbord of programs highlighting Southern Arizona’s simmering foods scene. The industry’s target: culinary tourists, an emerging and lucrative niche in the travel industry.

Local offerings include behind-the-scenes cooking classes with executive chefs, restaurant tours in Tucson, and a retreat to Pata-gonia to learn about raw and vegan foods. Local travel businesses also are selling culinary vacation destination packages and marketing cookbooks highlighting cuisine developed in Tucson.

“Culinary tourism is about finding unique and memorable culinary experiences while traveling,” said Eric Wolf, president of the International Culinary Tourism Association. The 500-member group promotes restaurants, wineries, breweries, delis, classic diners and roadside stands as marketable attractions in cities around the world.

“It’s not just four-star restaurants. It’s any place with unique and memorable offerings … and those can include the best taco or hot dog stand in a state,” Wolf said.

For traveler Nathan Bryant, that meant dinner this month at El Charro Café, 311 N. Court Ave., and a cruise along Tucson’s South Side another day in search of a Sonoran-style hot dog.

“Bacon, mayo and a dog. Nothing beats it during my trips to Tucson,” said Bryant, a Florida resident who recently stopped by El Güero Canelo, 5118 S. 12th. Ave., while traveling here on business. “It’s unique to Tucson. It’s a big reason why I love to come here.”

The culinary attraction

With the rise of celebrity chefs, the popularity of TV cooking shows and growing interest in regional cuisine, travelers across the country are flocking to places that offer culinary experiences, Wolf said. Local restaurateur Don Luria said Tucson has been a culinary destination, but it hasn’t sold itself that way.

“For years, we have felt that the quality of restaurants in Tucson far exceeds its population size,” said Luria, owner of Terra Cotta, 3500 E. Sunrise Drive, and executive board member of the International Culinary Tourism Association. “We have a lot of culinary talent. The reason — tourists want to try our food, and that draws talented chefs who come and stay here.”

About 3.5 million people visit Tucson each year, according to the Metropolitan Tucson Visitors & Convention Bureau, also a member of the culinary tourism association. “Our business is highly dependent on tourists, but we’ve never put the culinary and tourist industry together before,” Luria said. Other cities have preceded Tucson in establishing themselves as destinations — Santa Fe and New Orleans, among others. Some use annual events to build their brands, such as Santa Fe’s Wine and Chili Festival in New Mexico and Aspen’s Food & Wine Magazine Classic festival in Colorado.

For three years, Tucson has had its own annual event. The Tucson Culinary Festival features wine and food from The Tucson Originals’ 40 or so independent-restaurant members. Working with Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, 7000 N. Resort Drive, the three-day festival in October is gearing up for more out-of-state attendees this year, said Maya Luria, co-owner of Terra Cotta and event coordinator of the festival.

This year organizers are partnering with American Express, announcing the festival in billing statements to more than 2 million cardholders. “I think it could be absolutely huge for the amount of exposure we’re going to get,” Maya Luria said.And what is the culture travelers experience when they try local food? When it comes to defining the culinary identity of Tucson and the region, most chefs and restaurateurs point to the Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora roots.

In Tucson’s cuisine, beans, corn and squash are used in dishes considered “cultural icons” of the area, said Janos Wilder, chef and owner of Janos Restaurant and J Bar, 3770 E. Sunrise Drive, at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa. Those icons include chiles rellenos, enchiladas and tamales, which many chefs use a base to create new dishes, he said. “We’re working on defining our culinary sense of place. The ingredients are there,” he said. “We’re continuing to refine it.”

Local wellness centers

While restaurants may attract some travelers, local wellness centers have long drawn guests who want to learn about healthy food preparation and eating. When Seattle resident Donna Lee packed her bags and headed for Patagonia, she arrived in Southern Arizona with a mission — to find a sense of self and learn more about vegan and raw foods. “For me it was a way to get out of the matrix of America,” Lee said. “I wanted to live in a holistic and healthy way — what we eat is the basis for our health.” Lee traveled to the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, 686 Harshaw Road in Patagonia, an educational and spiritual retreat center offering holistic spa treatments and programs centered on “spiritual fasting,” raw foods and vegan diets. “People come here for an experience that makes them more conscious about eating,” said Michael Bedar, a spokesman for the center. “There’s nothing to distract you from your purpose for being here and for going back into the world.” Situated on 182 acres, Tree of Life features 40 beds in the center’s casitas and orchard house where guests can book stays ranging from three days to three months.

Rates to stay at the center for three nights start at $220 per night for a single room. Other 24-day “Detoxification-Cleanse” packages can cost up to $8,179 for a single. While at the center, guests can take food-preparation classes, including making vegan chocolate desserts, dandelion and hemp kale salads and kale curry crackers. Others learn how to grow sprouts used in salads and in wheat-grass shots, and how to make organic juices.

Some of those recipes are available in a line of cooking and nutrition books written by Dr. Gabriel Cousens, founder of the 11-year-old center.

Canyon Ranch’s mission

At Tucson’s Canyon Ranch, 8600 E. Rockcliff Road, healthy eating is a large part of the wellness resort’s mission. A self-described “foodie,” Suz Waddington of Atlanta said she has stayed at Canyon Ranch 10 times to take part in the resort’s spa and wellness programs and to dine on specially created dishes served to guests. “The food is one of many highlights for coming here,” she said. The resort offers “Lunch and Learn” sessions with Canyon Ranch chefs in a “demo kitchen” where guests can also sign up for private cooking classes. Former guests can also log on to a Canyon Ranch Web site to get recipes for certain dishes. “This is a learning vacation. It’s about health, spirituality and food,” said Canyon Ranch’s executive chef, Scott Uehlein. Those sorts of experiences at Canyon Ranch start at $2,190 for a four-night, single-room package. Other packages during the year include a 10-night stay in a one-bedroom suite for $14,750. The wellness resort is also taking its concept of healthy eating outside Tucson, with the first full-serve Canyon Ranch restaurant opening next year in Miami Beach. It already operates the Canyon Ranch Café inside the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. Executive chef Uehlein has helped write several cookbooks for Canyon Ranch. The latest was developed with Ladies Professional Golf Association athletes, re-creating their favorite dishes in a cookbook for release in July. When it comes to food served at health resorts, Uehlein said, the industry is fighting a reputation for serving “minimalist, spa cuisine.”

“People think it’s all carrot sticks and tofu. That’s a reputation we’re still fighting,” he said. “We’re showcasing a unique flavor of Tucson here.” Now it’s just up to locals to tell travelers about that, said Don Luria of Terra Cotta. “Tucson can develop a reputation as a culinary destination,” he said. “We have a lot of unique ingredients — we just need to put them together to attract travelers.”