Anna Ansari / @thisplacetastesdelicious

Anna Ansari is an Iranian-American food writer whose work explores the intersections of food, migration, and memory. Raised in Detroit and now based in East London, she studied at Barnard and Yale before turning her attention from law to food and storytelling. Her essays have appeared in Pit, Eaten, and Fillerzine, and her warm, witty voice has already won admiration across the food world.

In Silk Roads: A Flavour Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing, Ansari takes readers on a culinary, historical, and personal journey across Asia. Weaving together essays, family photography and 90 recipes, she brings life to the flavours of the Silk Roads – from the walnut groves of her father’s Iranian childhood, across Central Asian markets brimming with fragrant melons and fat-tailed sheep, to steaming bowls of noodles in the backstreets of modern-day Chinese cities.

Praise for Silk Roads

“Anna Ansari is a rare kind of home cook who is able to get under the skin of any cuisine and turn the simplest of ingredients into pure magic. She’s also one of the best writers I know: she’s witty, intelligent and very refreshing to read.” – Meera Sodha

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