"Chips, salsa, happiness."
That's not just a Tucson mantra, daily goal and way of life. It's how the publisher begins a description of "Salsa Daddy," a 2025 book by chef Rick Martínez that dishes up more than 70 recipes for salsas and 24 meals that use them, including chilaquiles and enchiladas.
Martínez, the winner of a prestigious James Beard Award for International Cooking, will be a presenter at the Tucson Festival of Books this weekend.
There are more than 500 years of salsa history to draw from, he says, and Penguin Random House describes the book this way: "Rick takes us deep into the world of traditional and modern salsas, where a playful pico de gallo with tomatoes, avocados, and chipotles is chopped up in a few minutes or where you might blend roasted peanuts with caramelized onions and toasted chiles for a nutty-savory spicy sauce. You’ll find smashed salsas, like La Tatemada Cremosa (charred tomato, chipotle in adobo and crema), chopped salsas, such as Xnipec (tomato, habañero and sour orange), as well as cooked salsas, like Pipián Verde (pepitas, peanuts and tomatillo) and specials like Salsa Macha (peanuts, guiajillo, and chile de árbol) and Aioli Rojo (morita, guajillo, garlic, and lime)."
The New York Times best-selling author of "Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from my Kitchen in Mexico," Martínez will be featured at these two book festival events:
- Salsa Daddy, Culinary Stage, 11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 14.
- Food and Culture: Hay Comida en la Casa, a conversation with Adán Medrano, Rick Martínez and Sean Sherman. Nuestras Raíces Stage, 11:30 a.m., Sunday, March 15.
And if the very thought of all those salsas makes you hungry (and of course it does), you can use this list to plan how you'll eat and drink your way through the book festival this weekend:
Food vendors at TFOB
Beyond Bread
BlackJack Citrus Infusions
Blue Banjo BBQ Catering
Cafe at the j
CowPig Food truck
Dante's Kitchen & Cocktails
Hawaiian Shave Ice
Hot Bamboo
Hot Pops Kettle Corn
Jakes lemonade
Just Churros Authentic
Kabob Shack
New Delhi Palace cuisine of India
Renee's Tucson
Snake Oil Functional Beverage
Sonoran Hot Dogs
SpunLight Cotton Candy
Transit Tea
Tucson Tamale
