When Santa Fe kicks off its 400th anniversary next month, food will be part of the celebration.

Ten New Mexico culinary personalities, including some of the city's most celebrated chefs, will be offering mini classes and food samplings during Sabores de Santa Fe: A Tapestry of Taste during Labor Day weekend at Fort Marcy Park.

Participants include chocolate historian Mark Sciscenti; Native foods historian, caterer and chef Lois Ellen Frank of Red Mesa Cuisine LLC; La Boca/Delicasa chef-owner James Campbell Caruso; chef Fernando Olea Caballero of Bert's Burger Bowl and Bert's La Taqueria; chef, author and Coyote Cafe founder Mark Miller; Michelle Roetzer of the Santa Fe Community College Culinary Arts Program; James Beard Award-winning author Cheryl Alters Jameson; writer, publisher and editor of the quarterly magazine Edible Santa Fe Kate Manchester; cowboy cook and founder of the New Mexico Dutch Oven Society Brent Bolton; and Santa Fe School of Cooking chef and culinary director Rocky Durham.

At a news conference Tuesday at the Santa Fe Farmers Market, Libby Dover, executive director of the Santa Fe 400th Anniversary, explained that the partnership with the Santa Fe School of Cooking developed after 400th event organizers had to trim their budget, leaving a gap in the celebration's programming schedule. Cooking school manager Nicole Curtis Ammerman and Durham approached Dover and offered to lend a hand.

The team of experts will cook a variety of dishes and discuss ingredients from regions with historical ties to Santa Fe's cuisine, including Mexico, Spain and the pueblos of the American Southwest.

Emphasizing the long history of ingredients like corn in the diets of people living in and around Santa Fe, chef Durham called the cuisine of Santa Fe "possibly the first fusion cuisine, as well as the home of the first prepared foods (like tortillas or tamales) in the region." Asking Francophiles not to take offense, Durham added that "thousands of years ago in Paris, the proto-French were still in the woods eating each other, while here, people were saying, 'would you like another tamale?' "

The free demonstrations will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 5 and 6. Because of limited seating, tickets will be issued two hours before each time slot. (For the 10 a.m. demonstration, tickets will be available at 9:30 a.m.) They are available only at Fort Marcy Park during the free daytime ¡Viva! Santa Fe Cultural Festival. A detailed schedule of tastings and demonstrations will be available online at santafe400th.com beginning Saturday. Call 986-1610 or the Santa Fe School of Cooking, 983-4511, for more information.