If you’ve ever attended a Devour Phoenix culinary event, you have experienced Kimber Lanning’s work firsthand. Devour Culinary Classic is the largest culinary festival in the state, celebrating Arizona restaurants that deserve national attention. “It’s always sold out,” she said. What makes the festival different from other food festivals in metro Phoenix is its exclusive focus on local talent rather than on inviting nationally known chefs.
Celebrating local is what started it all for Lanning, the CEO of Local First Arizona, who built her career promoting the Arizona restaurant scene. Her interest in restaurants came from a belief that restaurants are a litmus test of “is your city cool or not,” she said.
“When in the 1990s, Eater published a list of states based on restaurants, and we ranked 49, I was like, ‘I’m not having it,'” Lanning said. She rallied some of the Valley’s top chefs, like Mark Tarbell, to make a change.
From record store art events to the largest culinary festival in the state
She said it all began with her record store, Stinkweeds Records, where she featured local art exhibitions. When the current location of Local First became available, she opened a live music and gallery space…