Silk Roads (A Flavor Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing)

“Packed with history, humor, and delicious food, this travelogue-memoir-cookbook checks every box. Anna's encyclopaedic knowledge of the subject, combined with compelling personal stories and recipes deeply rooted in a unique culinary culture, add a new voice to an important food story.” – Adeena Sussman

“A delectable feast for the senses. Anna Ansari traverses the colorful cuisines of the Silk Roads with curiosity, knowledge, and empathy.” – Naz Deravian

“A superb culinary journey along Silk Roads less travelled.” – Jay Rayner

This is the story of the world’s most famous trade routes, retold through recipes.

In this rich and delicious cookbook, Iranian-American cook and writer Anna Ansari takes us on a culinary, historical, and personal odyssey across the Silk Roads.

Weaving together essays, family photography and 90 recipes, Ansari brings life to the flavors of the Silk Roads – from the walnut groves of her father’s Iranian childhood, across Central Asian markets brimming with fragrant melons and thronged with fat-tailed sheep, and into the neighborhoods of modern-day Chinese cities.

Discover delectable dishes from Baku to Beijing – Azeri-Iranian stews served with crispy-bottomed rice, dill-infused noodles from Western Uzbekistan, Georgian cornbread, Uyghur lamb chops and all kinds of dumplings, from fat, spiraled oromo to tiny, stuffed dushbara in a delicate saffron broth. Plus, you’ll find refreshing drinks and sharbats, and American-inspired desserts like apple pie with quince, sticky persimmon pudding, and walnut-studded spiced blondies.

“A book of delicious recipes interwoven with histories, family stories and a good dash of humour is what we all need just now.” – Olia Hercules