Crossroads of Cuisine: The Eurasian Heartland, the Silk Roads and Food

Description

Crossroads of Cuisine provides a history of foods, and foodways in terms of exchanges taking place in Central Asia and in surrounding areas such as China, Korea or Iran during the last 5000 years, stressing the manner in which East and West, West and East grew together through food. It provides a discussion of geographical foundations, and an interlocking historical and cultural overview going down to the present day, with a comparative country by country survey of foods and recipes. An ethnographic photo essay embracing all parts of the book binds it all together, and helps make topics discussed vivid and approachable. The book is important for explaining key relationships that have not always been made clear in past scholarship. 2 2 Crossroads of Cuisine The Eurasian Heartland, the Silk Roads and Food Contents Acknowledgements Illustrations Introduction 1 A Note on Languages and Transcription Systems 2 The Heartland of Heartlands: Xinjiang Focus, the Uighurs and Uighur Progenitors (MAP 1) Chapter 1 The Eurasian Heartland: Overview of a Link between Worlds 1 Physical Geography 2 Vegetation 3 Animal Life 4 Nations of Today 5 Agriculture and Environment 6 Integrating Agriculture and Livestock 7 Nomads 8 The Crossroads 9 Overall View of Foods 10 Building Foodways Chapter 2 Prehistory and History: The Long Record of Foodways 1 Prehistory: From Hunting to Agriculture 2 Prehistory: Domestication 3 Domesticated Plants 4 Domestic Animals 5 Languages 6 The Origins of Civilization and High Culture in the Eurasian Heartland 7 Religion Chapter 3 Histories 1 Ancient and Medieval History (Before the Mongols) 2 Chinese Food Meets Western Food on the Silk Road 3 China after Tang 4 Witnesses: Travel Accounts from Late Antiquity and Early Medieval Times 5 Medicine and Food in Medieval Central Asia 6 History during the Mongol Empire 7 The Eurasian Heartland and Its Silk Roads in Mongol Times 8 Food and Medicine in Mongol Times 9 History after the Mongols 10 Travels and Excursions after 1500 11 On to the Twentieth Century Chapter 4 Contemporary Food 1 Lifestyles 2 Bread 3 The All-Important Noodle 4 Other Grain Foods 5 Cooking Meat 6 Dairy Foods 7 Other Drinks 8 Vegetables 9 Sweets 10 Spicing 11 Cooking Utensils Chapter 5 Food by Country 1 Afghanistan’s Food  Dopiaza 2 Eastern Iran’s Food 3 Uzbekistan’s Food 4 Tajik Food 5 Kyrgyz Food 6 Kazakh Food 7 Azerbaijan Food, and Central Asian Food in Turkey 8 Uighur Food 9 Mongol Food 10 Kalmyk Food 11 Chinese Food, the Central Asian Connections in Ming and Today 12 Chinese Food Today: The Central Asian Connection 13 Korea and the Eurasian Heartland Conclusion The Next Step: Silk Road as Metaphor, Seattle, the Silk Road, and the Pacific Rim 1 The Foodways of Central Asia and Its Sprawling Extensions Have Been Shaped by Several Forces 2 The Rise of Sea Routes 3 A Final Word Appendix Summary of Western Plants in the YSZY and the HHYF Bibliography Index