Chef Renetto-Mario Etsitty will be featured for the Intersections Speakers: The Gift of Hunger and Turkey in Diné Foodways presentation 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Saturday Nov 7, at The Vista Center for the Arts - Playhouse, 15660 N. Parkview Plaza, Surprise.

Courtesy/AZ Humanities

Surprise Arts presents Intersections Speakers: The Gift of Hunger and Turkey in Diné Foodways 11 a.m.-noon Saturday Nov 7, at The Vista Center for the Arts - Playhouse, 15660 N. Parkview Plaza, Surprise.

The speaker is Chef Renetto-Mario Etsitty, who was born on the Navajo Reservation, and grew up under learning his grandparents’ cooking traditions, including his grandmother’s chuckwagon, and ancestral practices from his grandfather, who taught him the techniques to preserve his traditional (Diné) foodways. This presentation will include soup for the audience as part of the experience.

The owner of “The REZ,” an urban eatery that caters and provides pop up frybread stands with traditional and plant base foods and sustainable food practices, Mario Etsitty uses food to understand and respect sacred traditions.

His pumpkin tamales showcase  squash and corn, which consists of the four “sacred plants,” corn, beans, squash, and tabacco,” while sharing his culinary and storytelling abilities to preserve and honor his Diné heritage.

Stories of Diné food traditions reveal deep connections between sustenance, survival, and spirit, which include the story of the Nayee’ (monster) hunger and how Turkey saved the precious agricultural seeds. Emerging Diné foodways seek to revive these traditions within the global culinary landscape.

Intersections includes speakers from various backgrounds to share knowledge, experiences and research across topics such as history, culture and identity.

Each event offers an opportunity to learn, reflect and engage with ideas that shape world understanding. These free programs create space for thoughtful conversation and shared learning within the community.

Made possible by Arizona Humanities, this program is part of a project that supports the America 250th initiative commemorating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Go to surpriseaz.gov.