Silk Roads: A Flavour 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

About the Author

Anna Ansari has a background in Asian studies, with a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University and an MA from Yale University. Her writing focuses on the intersection of food, family, and history, with special attention to the immigrant experience and foods of the Asian continent. She is particularly interested in the ways food, flavors, and ingredients move across borders, carried in the memories and pockets of travelers and transplants. Her proposal for Silk Roads was shortlisted for the 2021 Yan-Kit So award for food writers on Asia, and the 2024 Jane Grigson Trust Award for New Food and Drink Writers. You can find more of her writing in Pit Magazine, Eaten Magazine and Fillerzine. An Iranian-American from Detroit and former international customs and trade attorney, Anna lives in London with her husband, son and cat.

Author Residence: Detroit, US

Author Hometown: London, UK