CMES Book Talk: Silk Roads— A Flavor Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing

Anna Ansari is an Iranian-American former international trade lawyer and the author of Silk Roads- A Flavor Odyssey with Recipes from Baku to Beijing, a cookbook released by DK/ Penguin Random House in October 2025. She is a graduate of Yale University, where she completed an MA in East Asian Studies (GSAS 2006), and Barnard College where she completed a BA in Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures. She also holds a law degree from Brooklyn Law School. Anna’s 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.