From the "New York Times" bestselling author of the Aztec series comes a recreated epic account of the greatest real-life adventurer in human history: Marco Polo.

A food writer travels the Silk Road, immersing herself in a moveable feast of foods and cultures and discovering some surprising truths about commitment, independence, and love. As a newlywed traveling in Italy, Jen Lin-Liu was struck by culinary echoes of the delicacies she ate and cooked back in China, where she’d lived for more than a decade. Who really invented the noodle? she wondered, like many before her. But also: How had food and culture moved along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route linking Asia to Europe—and what could still be felt of those long-ago migrations? With her new husband’s blessing, she set out to discover the connections, both historical and personal, eating a path through western China and on into Central Asia, Iran, Turkey, and across the Mediterranean. The journey takes Lin-Liu into the private kitchens where the headscarves come off and women not only knead and simmer but also confess and confide. The thin rounds of dough stuffed with meat that are dumplings in Beijing evolve into manti in Turkey—their tiny size the measure of a bride’s worth—and end as tortellini in Italy. And as she stirs and samples, listening to the women talk about their lives and longings, Lin-Liu gains a new appreciation of her own marriage, learning to savor the sweetness of love freely chosen.

Designed to attract young readers to the fun of cooking and eating more fruits and vegetables, this adventure story and cookbook follows Ottavio Fornero, a pint-sized member of Marco Polo’s expedition, as he discovers wondrous foods through the rich cultural traditions of people along the Silk Road. Ottavio journeys from Venice to the Middle East, sharing 36 easy-to-follow recipes inspired by the trip along the way. By making food an adventure, the book provides parents with an exciting way to read, learn, and cook with their children and share their family’s long-held food traditions while creating new ones. Also included is a medieval world map showing Polo’s actual expedition routes; glossaries of cooking terms, techniques, and utensils; an extensive illustrated history of the ingredients; modern adaptations; and historical trivia.

What did great adventurers eat during their expeditions to the far corners of the world? How did they view the role of food in their survival and wellbeing? What about hikers and backpackers today who set out to enjoy nature, pushing their own boundaries of comfort for adventure. How does food impact their experience? And what do they have in common with pilgrims and soldiers? Food is a significant element of our relationship with nature. Whether a historical expedition or a weekend camping trip, a journey made on foot requires sustenance. Without mastering our relationship with food we would have not been to the South Pole or summited Mt. Everest or expanded to the west of America. However, in the reporting of these expeditions so far food has rarely taken a central role. It is possible to take a different stance and look at our time on trails with food as the leading character. Here, Demet Güzey offers a fun and interesting read on the social and cultural history, developments and challenges in food on trails and in the wild. She explores personal accounts, news articles and anecdotes to highlight how food has accompanied us in mountaineering, desert travel, and pilgrimage, in the army or on the street. From tinned foods to foraging in the wild, worm-infested hardtack to palate-dulling army rations, loss of appetite in high altitude to starvation at the trenches, no stone is left unturned in this tour of how we manage food on foot, and how disasters happen when we do not manage it so well. Readers will delight in both the stories of many of the famous explorations and the more current journeys.

"A comprehensive and entertaining historical and botanical review, providing an enjoyable and cognitive read.”—Nature The foods we eat have a deep and often surprising past. From almonds and apples to tea and rice, many foods that we consume today have histories that can be traced out of prehistoric Central Asia along the tracks of the Silk Road to kitchens in Europe, America, China, and elsewhere in East Asia. The exchange of goods, ideas, cultural practices, and genes along these ancient routes extends back five thousand years, and organized trade along the Silk Road dates to at least Han Dynasty China in the second century BC. Balancing a broad array of archaeological, botanical, and historical evidence, Fruit from the Sands presents the fascinating story of the origins and spread of agriculture across Inner Asia and into Europe and East Asia. Through the preserved remains of plants found in archaeological sites, Robert N. Spengler III identifies the regions where our most familiar crops were domesticated and follows their routes as people carried them around the world. With vivid examples, Fruit from the Sands explores how the foods we eat have shaped the course of human history and transformed cuisines all over the globe.

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We all ?know? that Marco Polo went to China, served Ghengis Khan for many years, and returned to Italy with the recipes for pasta and ice cream. But Frances Wood, head of the Chinese Department at the British Library, argues that Marco Polo not only never went to China, he probably never even made it past the Black Sea, where his family conducted business as merchants.Marco Polo's travels from Venice to the exotic and distant East, and his epic book describing his extraordinary adventures, A Description of the World, ranks among the most famous and influential books ever published. In this fascinating piece of historical detection, marking the 700th anniversary of Polo's journey, Frances Wood questions whether Marco Polo ever reached the country he so vividly described. Why, in his romantic and seemingly detailed account, is there no mention of such fundamentals of Chinese life as tea, foot-binding, or even the Great Wall? Did he really bring back pasta and ice cream to Italy? And why, given China's extensive and even obsessive record-keeping, is there no mention of Marco Polo anywhere in the archives?Sure to spark controversy, Did Marco Polo Go to China? tries to solve these and other inconsistencies by carefully examining the Polo family history, Marco Polo's activities as a merchant, the preparation of his book, and the imperial Chinese records. The result is a lucid and readable look at medieval European and Chinese history, and the characters and events that shaped this extraordinary and enduring myth.

In this authoritative biography of one of the most fascinating figures in world history, Marco Polos incredible odyssey--along the Silk Road and through all the fantastic circumstances of his life--is chronicled in sumptuous and illuminating detail. Illustrated.