Gary Paul Nabhan takes the reader on a vivid and far-ranging journey across time and space in this fascinating look at the relationship between the spice trade and culinary imperialism. Drawing on his own family’s history as spice traders, as well as travel narratives, historical accounts, and his expertise as an ethnobotanist, Nabhan describes the critical roles that Semitic peoples and desert floras had in setting the stage for globalized spice trade. Traveling along four prominent trade routes—the Silk Road, the Frankincense Trail, the Spice Route, and the Camino Real (for chiles and chocolate)—Nabhan follows the caravans of itinerant spice merchants from the frankincense-gathering grounds and ancient harbors of the Arabian Peninsula to the port of Zayton on the China Sea to Santa Fe in the southwest United States. His stories, recipes, and linguistic analyses of cultural diffusion routes reveal the extent to which aromatics such as cumin, cinnamon, saffron, and peppers became adopted worldwide as signature ingredients of diverse cuisines. Cumin, Camels, and Caravans demonstrates that two particular desert cultures often depicted in constant conflict—Arabs and Jews—have spent much of their history collaborating in the spice trade and suggests how a more virtuous multicultural globalized society may be achieved in the future.

An A through Z look at the punny names of animal groups with adorable illustrations for each!

So! You think you know the story of the Magi and the Nativity? Well let me introduce you to the real heroes and heroine of this story. Follow sweet, comical Dub-Dub, the wise yogi master, Gonzophares, the young, handsome Antar, and beautiful and independent Zenobia from Isfahan in Persia to the stable in Bethlehem where they find the Christ child. Following the brilliant star, the four camels lead the Magi through desert storms to ancient Bablyon and then to the Great Desert City of Palms, Palmyra where they are attacked by thieves and onto exotic Damascus, the Jasmine City of many gates, spice filled markets, lush fragrant gardens, beautiful houses of wealth where they are entertained with much food, music and story-telling. Continuing their journey, they travel Southward through the Golan Mountains into the Sea of Galilee, to the towns of Bethsaida and Hyppos and their entrance into the Great Palace of Herod in Jerusalem. Along the journey the camel friends encounter other animal friends who help them in their quest and

Two children accompany their uncle's caravan across the desert. After a surprise attack by raiders they find themselves alone with two wounded camels, little water, and unsure of their whereabouts.

Tired of carrying their burdens in the desert, the camels sneak away from the caravan and have exciting adventures as they explore other ways to travel.

This lesson integrates academic vocabulary instruction into content-area lessons. Two easy-to-implement strategies for teaching academic vocabulary are integrated within the step-by-step, standards-based social studies lesson.

Issued in conjunction with the exhibition Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time, held January 26, 2019-July 21, 2019, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.

Even before he stumbled on the dark-eyed boy, the Thirsty Camel was an uncommon camel. He liked to lead, for one thing, and if you know camels, you know most of them are confi rmed followers. The Thirsty Camel had been on almost every caravan trail from Marrakech to Isfahan and from Cairo to Juba, and he had seen his share of unusual things. Then he encountered the boy. They shared the trail for a short time and then the boy disappeared, leaving something behind that was more unusual than anything the Thirsty Camel had encountered in all his travels. He did not know who the boy was, or where he had gone. What the Thirsty Camel did know was that suddenly, he could do things he had never been able to do before. He kept his newfound skills mostly to himself—something in his hump told him to, and as you probably know, the Camel Creed says, “Heed your hump.” As he battled bloodthirsty emirs, foiled ruthless bandits, outwitted sorcerers and rescued princesses, the Thirsty Camel learned that humans rarely looked beyond the surface, and usually underestimated a scruffy-looking camel with unusual talents.