Climate & Cocktails: A Stirring Conversation with Gary Nabhan

Thursday, November 7, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Join us for an evening of cocktails and important conversations about our changing climate! Author Gary Nabhan is a world-renowned ethnobotanist, desert ecologist, and literary naturalist who has written extensively about foods from the Middle East to the Southwest. A winner of the 2024 James Beard Media Award for his book Agave Spirits, Gary will share insights into how crops from the hottest and driest places on Earth have shaped the culinary dishes, recipes, and flavors of traditional desert cultures.

Guests will get a taste of some of these bold and flavorful ingredients with appetizers and cocktail tastings, including drink recipes featured in Gary’s newest book, “Chile, Clove, and Cardamom: A Gastronomic Journey Into the Fragrances and Flavors of Desert Cuisines”.

The night will also include a lively conversation featuring Gary alongside our President & CEO Ari Novy and Director of Science & Conservation Colin Khoury to explore how we can learn from desert plants to adapt to climate change, and how botanical gardens can act as hubs for novel ways to integrate plants into climate resilience efforts by communities.

As hotter and drier conditions become more familiar to people beyond desert regions, water-conserving dishes and energy saving techniques will become increasingly necessary for many of us. Each recipe, in turn, introduces us to the gastronomic legacies that connect these cuisines, offering tips for understanding and sourcing high-quality, delicious ingredients—and how to use them—in a changing world.

This event is for adults 21 and over. Advanced tickets are required as the event is expected to sell out. Please note that only the Conservatory will be open for this special event, other areas of the Garden will not be accessible.

Pricing Details

Tickets are $75 per person and include two drink tickets to taste one (or both!) of the signature cocktails highlighted during the tasting, along with appetizers. Additional drinks will be available for purchase. Proceeds from this event will benefit the Garden’s science, conservation, and education programs.

A free copy of “Chile, Clove, and Cardamom: A Gastronomic Journey Into the Fragrances and Flavors of Desert Cuisines” will be included when you purchase two tickets. The book will also be available for purchase onsite

About the Author

Gary Nabhan is a Lebanese-American plant explorer, ethnobotanist, desert ecologist and writer who has traced spice trade and aromatic herb production through a dozen desert countries around the world. He has spent his career in botanical gardens, seed conservation organizations, research institutes and protected areas, training young professionals and developing cross-cultural collaborations for conserving the interactions between plants and their pollinators. In addition to his research and teaching, he has authored or edited more than 30 books now translated into six other languages, for which he has received a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a McArthur Genius Grant and Western States Book Award. His work has been featured in the LA Times, NY Times, Smithsonian, Audubon, and National Public Radio.He and his wife Laura Monti divide their time between the U.S.-Mexico border and the desert coast of the Sea of Cortez