A Seat at the Table: Tucson’s Women Chefs Help Us Celebrate 50 Years
The Pima County/Tucson Women’s Commission has partnered with Tucson City of Gastronomy and four of the city’s acclaimed women chefs to create the tasting menu for our 50th Anniversary Celebration — Wednesday, August 26, 2026, Women’s Equality Day, at YWCA Tucson.
Fifty years ago, a group of women in this community decided that the concerns of women and girls deserved a permanent seat at the table of local government. The Tucson City Council approved the creation of a Women’s Commission in 1975. We held our first meeting in 1976. In 1992 we expanded to serve all of Pima County, becoming the Pima County/Tucson Women’s Commission we are today.
On Wednesday, August 26 — Women’s Equality Day — from 5:30 to 8:00 PM at YWCA Tucson, 525 N. Bonita Avenue, we are marking fifty years of that work. And we are doing it the way Tucson does everything meaningful: around food.
Why food, and why these chefs
In 2015, Tucson became the first city in the United States designated a UNESCO City of Gastronomy — recognition earned by more than 4,000 years of continuous agriculture in this valley and by the living heritage foodways of the Sonoran Desert. That designation belongs to all of us, and it is stewarded by Tucson City of Gastronomy, the nonprofit that connects Tucson’s food community to that global network.
We are honored that Tucson City of Gastronomy has joined us as a culinary partner for the 50th, and that four remarkable women chefs are creating the evening’s tasting menu.
There is a reason this pairing matters. For fifty years the Commission’s work has been about visibility — making sure women’s labor, leadership, and contributions are seen and valued. Food work has historically been women’s work, done without recognition, without credit, and without compensation. The chefs joining us on August 26 are professionals at the top of a demanding industry, running their own businesses, serving on boards, mentoring, and carrying heritage ingredients forward into new work. Putting their names and their craft at the center of our anniversary is not decoration. It is the point.
Meet the chefs
Shuka Parker — Shuka Sweets
Pastry Chef Shuka Parker was born on Awaji Island, Japan, and came to Tucson in 2009 after a career in early childhood education. She taught herself to bake, turned professional, and launched her company Shuka Sweets in 2023. A member of the Gastronomic Union of Tucson and an active presence in the city’s culinary community, she is known for work that brings traditional heritage ingredients together with genuinely inventive technique.
On the menu: A corn parfait — cornflake crunch at the base, Bavarian mousse, pinole corn cream, and a bright gelée on top.
Angela Garcia — Chula’s Cocina
Chef Angela Garcia is a private chef devoted to the culinary traditions of Tucson and the Sonoran Desert. As an official Tucson Chef Ambassador for the first UNESCO City of Gastronomy in the United States, she builds menus that tell the story of this region’s cultures and history — dishes that are a tribute to the land, its people, and the ingredients that have sustained them for centuries. She has interpreted Tucson’s multicultural cuisine and food heritage at community events here at home and in San Antonio, Texas.
On the menu: Charred queso fresco with prickly pear matcha jam on toast.
Susan Fulton & Mary Steiger — Gourmet Girls Gluten Free Bakery/Bistro
Susan Fulton, chef and co-owner, has worked in Tucson’s food industry since 1997. She is a champion of local producers, serves on the boards of Tucson Originals and Heirloom Farmers’ Markets, and specializes in creative gluten-free cuisine. She is a regular presence at cooking demonstrations and community events promoting Southern Arizona’s culinary heritage.
Mary Steiger, Executive Chef and co-owner, graduated as valedictorian of the Scottsdale Culinary Institute and has managed bakeries and fine dining kitchens across her career. She specializes in gluten-free cuisine and heritage ingredients, and is committed to inclusive dining and to the wider Tucson culinary community.
Together they have built a restaurant where nobody gets handed a smaller experience because of what they can’t eat — a quiet, daily practice of the inclusion the Commission has spent fifty years advocating for.
On the menu: Savory elote griddle cake with lime chipotle mousse, crispy spiced shredded pork, cilantro microgreens, and cherry jalapeño sauce.
What else the evening holds
Doors open at 5:30 PM for sign-in, tasting, and conversation. The program begins at 6:00 with welcoming remarks from Commission Chair Kim Fitch, with Vice Chair Sierra Yamanaka serving as emcee.
The evening includes remarks from Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, Pima County Supervisor Jen Allen, and Mayor Regina Romero — who will join Supervisor Allen in a joint presentation of a proclamation — along with Nathalia Untiveros from the Office of Governor Katie Hobbs. We will celebrate our community’s Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame inductees, and hear a keynote address from Alison Hughes, the Commission’s first Executive Director, who helped build this institution from nothing in 1976. Pima County Attorney Laura Conover will close the program with an ask, before final remarks and a reception running to 8:00 PM.
Fifty years, and the first Executive Director is still in the room. That is the kind of continuity worth eating something delicious over.
Join us
The Commission has 20 seats — 12 currently appointed and 8 open. If you have ever thought about serving your community in a concrete way, this is the invitation. Come on August 26, meet the commissioners, eat extraordinary food made by women who are shaping this city’s culinary identity, and ask us what a seat looks like.
50th Anniversary Celebration Wednesday, August 26, 2026 · Women’s Equality Day 5:30 – 8:00 PM YWCA Tucson, 525 N. Bonita Avenue
Pima County/Tucson Women’s Commission · 240 N. Court Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85701 · (520) 975-5665
Our thanks to Paloma Granados and Tucson City of Gastronomy for bringing this collaboration together, and to Chefs Shuka Parker, Angela Garcia, Susan Fulton, and Mary Steiger for lending their craft to our fiftieth year.