Events › TFOB Panel: Food and Culture: Hay Comida en la Casa

These cookbook authors are a recipe for success! Enjoy a taste of delicious conversation with Adán Medrano, Rick Martínez, and Sean Sherman as they chew over topics such as cooking, culture, and more. Each of them brings rich and varied personal experiences to the table.

Authors: Rick Martínez, Adán Medrano, Sean Sherman

Moderator: Jose Contreras

There will be an opportunity to get books signed after the panel.

For more information, visit Tucson Festival of Books 2026.

Chef Rick Martinez is a celebrated Mexican-American chef, author, food personality, and recipe developer. Martinez has received numerous accolades for his debut cookbook, "Mi Cocina," including the prestigious James Beard Award for International Cooking, as well as two IACP awards for Best International Cookbook and Book of the Year in 2023. His most recent release is “Salsa Daddy.”

Adán Medrano is a writer, chef and award-winning filmmaker specializing in Indigenous foods of Texas and the Americas. His book, "Truly Texas Mexican" received the Finalist, Book Of The Year from Foreword Reviews. Subsequent books include "Don’t Count The Tortillas: The Art Of Texas Mexican Cooking," and the just-released, "The Texas Mexican Plant-Based Cookbook." He is the editor of the Texas Tech University Press book series, “Indigenous Foodways of Texas and Northern Mexico,” and president of the not-for-profit, Texas Indigenous Food Project.

A member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Chef Sean Sherman has dedicated his career to supporting and promoting Indigenous food systems and Native food sovereignty. His first book won the James Beard Award, followed by the James Beard Best New Restaurant Award for Owamni. In 2023, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the U.S. He has also been the recipient of the Julia Child Award. His latest book is "Turtle Island."