Silk Roads: A Flavour Odyssey with Anna Ansari

Cookery Demo, Talk & Tastings from Baku to Beijing

‘Anna Ansari is a rare kind of home cook who is able to turn the simplest

ingredients into pure magic. She’s also one of the best writers I know.’ Meera Sodha

Silk Roads: A Flavour Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing is a rich and delicious celebration of the world’s most famous trade routes, retold through recipes. Shortlisted for the prestigious Jane Grigson Trust Award and the Yan-Kit So Award for Food Writers in Asia, Iranian-American food writer Anna Ansari takes us on an unforgettable culinary, historical and personal odyssey across Asia. 

Weaving together recipes and essays that explore threads of food, trade, and travel, Ansari brings to life the flavours of the Silk Roads–  from the walnut groves of her Iranian father’s childhood, across Uzbek markets brimming with fragrant melons, to steaming bowls of noodles eaten in the backstreets of China.

From Baku to Beijing, Tashkent to Tbilisi and beyond, discover delectable recipes rooted in the fabled trading routes that connected East Asia with Western Europe. Dive into warming and hearty Azeri-Iranian stews served with crispy-bottomed rice, dill-infused noodles from Western Uzbekistan, cheesy Georgian cornbread, and mouth-watering Uyghur lamb chops. Enjoy fresh, zingy salads, and all kinds of comforting dumplings and breads. Savour refreshing drinks and sharbats, and devour American- and British-inspired desserts, like Apple and Quince Pie, Sticky Maple Persimmon Pudding, and Spiced Walnut Blondies. Made with simple and accessible ingredients, these are dishes you’ll return to time and time again.

With fascinating historical insights, witty anecdotes and personal tales, essays peppered throughout the cookbook trace the traditions, ingredients and people of a unique food culture, and take you on a delicious, momentous journey. Stunning family and location photography and sumptuous food imagery transport, inspire and tantalize. This is a journey and a cookbook like no other.

‘Anna Ansari is a wise, witty and hungry guide who takes us on a superb culinary journey along Silk Roads less travelled.’ Jay Rayner

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 a attention to the immigrant experience and foods of the Asian continent. She is particularly interested in the ways food, flavours, and ingredients move across borders, carried in the memories and pockets of travellers and transplants. 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 a orney, Anna lives in London with her husband, son and cat.

‘A book of delicious recipes interwoven with histories, family stories and a good dash of humour is what we all need just now. Silk Roads promises to be such an important and lively book.’ Olia Hercules

‘A real feast – vividly evocative, witty, stylish and enlightening. Utterly delicious. I can’t remember the last time I felt this keen to dig in.’ Felicity Cloake

‘With gorgeous recipes and engaging stories, Anna Ansari tells a tale of food which is both personal and global in its scope.’ Tim Anderson

‘A fascinating and meticulously researched blend of recipes, history and memoir, this cookbook deserves a place alongside Olia Hercules Mamushka, Sabrina Ghayour's Persiana and Sami Tamimi's Jerusalem.’ Rukmini Iyer