Long ago a Venetian seafarer brought his beloved a gift of seaweed from the far, distant seas. She wanted to preserve the memento forever, so she painstakingly copied the delicate outline and patterns using her needle and thread. . .

Modern Burano Lace Maker

So goes the legend of how lacemaking began in Venice and its surrounding islands, now renown for the art.  Once, Venice and Burano Island were the lacemaking capitals of Europe.  Other than its lacemaking, Burano Island is known as a fishing community.  It is easy to see how the women of Burano – accustomed to sewing and repairing fishing nets – could take to the fine art of lace.  Together, Venice and Burano filled orders for coronation robes and papal vestments as well as personal adornments for aristocrats and wealthy merchants across the continent. Once, large workshops of women worked long days and nights like armies of spiders to create their diaphanous web-like creations.  Today, sadly, handmade needle-lace is a dying artform.  A few, often older women, sit stooped in their chairs with a pillow on their laps working on intricate borders and sewn ornaments. 

Mummy Cloth 18th Dynasty

Like most legends, the fisherman’s gift of seaweed to his paramour has a kernel of truth in it, but that kernel has been embellished with a dash of romanticism and a splash of whimsy.  The kernel of truth is that lacemaking came to Venice from across the Mediterranean Sea – from Cyprus.  The missing bit is that the origin of lacemaking can be traced to more than two millennia earlier in Egypt’s 18^th Dynasty. 

The earliest (and simplest) precursor of lace can be found in Egyptian mummy cloths.  These sheet-like garments were used to wrap the dead in preparation for their journey to the afterlife and were usually made of finely woven linen decorated with fringes.  Some mummy cloths had drawn thread work on them in which warp threads had been removed and embellishments added in the holes left by the missing threads. 

Mummy Cloth - Roman Period

Herodotus tells us that Pharaoh Amasis of Egypt (570 BC – 526 BC) sent finely woven linen to the Spartans, which, was made of no less than 360 threads (iii. 47); the figures woven on this cloth (drawn-thread or open work) were partly of linen and partly of gold thread. Herodotus also mentions a wonderful pallium sent by the same king to the shrine of Athene at Lindus.  Amasis is also important in the lacemaking story for incorporating Cyprus into his kingdom. 

Mummy-cloth Beadwork

By the Greco-Roman period, beginning in the 4^th Century BCE, intricate selvedge borders routinely decorated the edges of mummy cloths and sometimes, complex beadworking decorated the hems of the cloths.  It is easy to see how the patterning of the beads could be translated to stitch patterns for later lace borders. Flash forward a thousand years and the Arabs are producing woven macramé.  It is difficult to determine whether Cypriot Lefkara lace is a direct descendant of Egyptian drawn and open work or whether the Arab macramé tradition was an important influence on that development.

Modern Macrame

Either way, Venice begins its control of Cyprus as early as the late 12^th Century. Although this is often called the “Frankish period”, Venice was the hidden hand in ruling the island, until taking direct control in 1481.  It is probably during the Frankish period that the art of lacemaking is introduced. 

Lefkara Lace

As early as the end of the 14^th Century, the Dogaresse Morosini (Doge Michele Morosini) begins to promote the art of lacemaking by forming a workshop of more than 130 women to create personal lace adornments for her and the nobility of allied states and countries in the form of gifts.  Another Dogaresse, Giovanna Dandolo, wife of Doge Pasquale Malipiero protected and encouraged lacemaking in 1414 and soon lace had spread throughout Europe and become a fashion necessity for those who could afford it. 

Today some five stitches are routinely done on Burano Island: Venetian, Rose Point, Point de Gaze, Alencon, and Argentan.  This indicates a decrease from the 20^th Century when Flowered Lace (Tagliato a fogliami) and Brussels point were also commonly used. 

So, a artform that began in Egypt’s 18^th Dynasty persists to this day in Venice’s nearby Burano Island.  It is an art that is hanging on ‘by a thread’ and may soon be gone given the age of its masters both in Venice and Cyprus.  To me, however, it is a voice from the Western Silk Road that continues to echo today. (Words by Laura Kelley; Photo of Burano Lacemaker by Laura Kelley, Photos of Mummy Cloths and Beadwork from the British Museum, Photos of Modern Macrame from Google Images, Photo of Lefkara Lace from Wikimedia.)

Coming to power from the 9^th to the 12^th Centuries, Venice first rose to prominence by defeating Dalmatian pirates that often seized or demanded payment from the  merchant vessels coming to trade in the city’s lucrative markets.  With defeat of the pirates and control of the eastern Adriatic, Venice’s sphere of influence spread westward onto the mainland to secure the flow of agricultural products for the city and then into the Aegean all the way to Cyprus and Crete.  From the 9th Century on, trading relationships with merchants from North Africa, the Levant and Arabian peninsula also helped feed Venice’s growing prominence among European cities.  A large portion of the city’s growing wealth also came from its dominance of the salt trade in the Mediterranean.

Palazzo with Islamic Windows and Door

At first a defender of the Eastern Roman Empire against Norman and Turkish incursions, the Venetian conquest and sack of Constantinople in 1204 made Venice a major imperial power that also helped to bring about the fall of Byzantium.  At the height of its maritime power in the late 13^th Century, Venice had more than 3,000 ships dominating commerce from one end of the Mediterranean to the other.  Remnants of this age of empire can be seen in design elements around the city today in the use of spiraling sets of glass lanterns and Persian carpets to adorn the interior of churches and in the pointed, domed windows and doorways on the buildings that line the canals.  Insidiously perhaps, the graceful curve of these Islamic-inspired windows and doors are often topped with a Coptic cross or a Fleur de Lys reminiscent of the triumph of Christianity that the crusaders would have espoused.

War spoils seized from Constantinople can still be seen in the San Marco treasury today, gold, precious gems, jewelry, scepters, goblets and statues of almost incalculable value are on display for the payment of a few Euros as are the famed quadriga of bronze horses that once pulled a chariot on a monument to second century Roman emperor Septimus Severus. 

Even after the recapture of Constantinople by the Ottomans in the 15^th Century, and the loss of many of Venice’s territories in the eastern Mediterranean, links from the city state to the Muslim world remained strong as evidence in the portraits of Ottoman and Turkmen rulers that still line the Ufizzi.  Friezes of palm trees, camels and gazelles decorate the ancestral home of the Zen family who were merchants trading with the Arabs, geographers and explorers, and ambassadors to Muslim Persia and Damascus.

When moveable type reached Venice in the 15^th Century, Venice became the printing capital of the world.  The leading printer, Aldus Manutius, also invented portable books that could be carried in a saddlebag.  Instantly popular, these books soon superseded the heavy, metalclad manuscripts and books and the dissemination of knowledge was brought beyond the bounds of the monastery, palace and private library.  At this time Venetian printers also began to reprint Islamic treatises on medicine, philosophy, astronomy and mathematics thus allowing these disciplines to spread freely in Europe once again.  Among the portable books printed were also cookbooks, with Apicus’ early text being printed in 1498.

With all of this cross-cultural contact, trade and exchange, the Silk Road also had a strong effect on Venetian cuisine that can be enjoyed to this very day.  In addition to the spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper that came from Asian shores or agricultural products such as oranges, lemons and saffron, there are recipes that also bespeak Asian and/or Muslim influence.  

Pesce de Saor

One of the special Venetian dishes that display the maritime contact with the Muslim world is Pesce de Saor.  Fish – often sardines, sometimes mackerel – is marinated for days in layers of onions, white wine vinegar, pinenuts and raisins.  The fish is sautéed (dredged if desired), and set aside, then the onions are cooked over low heat until they begin to caramelize and the vinegar, pinenuts and raisins added.  This is then placed in alternating layers of onions and fish in a large casserole and allowed to sit in a cool place for several days prior to eating.  This dish is clearly related to Sayadia or Sayadieh enjoyed from the Levant through the Arabian Peninsula – but is not cooked after layering given the omission of rice.  It is delicious and lightly sweet despite the large amount of vinegar and onions used.  The dish is sometimes served with grilled polenta which takes on the flavor of the saor.  Shellfish and other fish such as monkfish are also traditionally prepared in this manner in Venice but have variations on ingredients such as the use of oranges, bay leaves and mixed greens to flavor the saor. 

Many dishes labeled “Italian” also have ties to the Silk Road as well.  One such dish is the Salmon with Oranges.  This flavorful dish, served as a carpaccio or in pieces often served on a bed of arugula owes two of its main ingredients – arugula and oranges to Western Asia.  A peruse of The Silver Spoon shows a variety of baked Persian vegetable omelets known as “kuku” for their use of eggs.  Almonds for use as ground nuts and sauces are another popular Muslim addition to Italian cuisine.  Pomegranates were also brought into Italy and flourished in its many warm, dry temperate climates.  Bartolomeo Scappi’s cookbook (Opera) in 1570 included treatises on Arab pastry making and “Moorish” couscous in addition to the many Bolognese recipes he recorded.

A discussion of the Islamic world’s influence on Venice and Italy’s cuisines wouldn’t be complete without a mention of coffee.  Muslim traders first brought coffee to Venice where merchants and their customers would sample it in Piazza San Marco.  At first, raw beans were boiled and then fermented and then cooked again – a time consuming process – that produced a bitter brew.  Later, in the 16^th Century, when the Muslims began roasting the beans prior to brewing them, the Venetians embraced coffee drinking and the fashion spread quickly to the rest of Europe. 

We stopped recently at Venice’s Cafe Florian – which opened in 1720 - to enjoy a late night desert and listen to some great  live music.  The gianduiotto of hazelnut gelato with bits of peidmontese chocolate and whipped cream was wonderful.  My husband had a melon gelato based dessert while the kids played in the square in front of the cafe.  Later, an evening thunderstorm raged while we continued to enjoy the cafe – sheltered under the arcade of Procuratie Nuove and my daughter (successfully) videographed lightning.

The influence of the Silk Road and of the Muslim merchants who traversed its land and sea routes can be found all over Venice and more broadly in Italian art, architecture, cuisine and culture.  This post is a toe-in-the water of a subject we shall revisit again and again in future explorations.  (Words by Laura Kelley; Photographs of Palazzo with Islamic Windows by Laura Kelley; Photograph of Pesce de Saor borrowed from Buttalapasta website.)

If some of you have wondered about the recent radio silence on the blog, know that it is because I am wandering, dining and researching my way down the Italian peninsula. Have encountered and enjoyed some wonderful food – from fish marinated in saor with grilled polenta and cuttlefish (with ink) in Venice to insalata trippe and lampredotto from street carts in Florence to an Ancient Roman meal at a beautiful restaurant along the old Appian Way in Rome, and of course, some salt-baked fish in the south. So many meals, and despite Italy’s almost overwhelming regionalism, many flavor and cultural connections to the rest of Europe, Asia and North Africa. Lots of blog posts to follow, once I return, but for now – a couple of my my favorite pictures from the trip:

Rialto in a Rainstorm

Bridges of Florence from the Ufizzi

(Words and photographs of Rialto in a Rainstorm and Bridges of Florence from the Ufizzi by Laura Kelley)

I’ve sometimes wished that I had gone to Yale.  I’ve wondered if  my life would be different had I studied there?  Where might I be standing now if I had applied?  Given my natural inclinations for dogged research,  I might have become an archivist working with rare books and tablets or I might have become a preparator who restores and studies precious artifacts . . .

Kashgar Old City, Fruit Sellers

As if the Yale Babylonian Collection weren’t enough to make me want to revisit that long-ago choice, the university has recently published an on-line Silk Road Database of over six thousand recent photographs taken by Yale faculty and students during seminar trips along the overland Silk Road. 

Food stands ripe with fresh produce and spices, ancient visages of Buddha carved into solid rock, artists and weavers plying their trades.  Images from today of lifestyles that may be all but disappeared by the time our children set out on journeys of their own.

This beautiful collection of photographs serves as a resource anyone interested in art and archaeology, religious studies, and history of the Silk Road. I urge you see it for yourself. (Words by Laura Kelley. Photograph of Kashgar Old City Fruit Sellers by Abbey Newman, Yale Silk Road Database.)

Ice Cream with Fruit

Triple digit temperatures have hit the Central Atlantic once again, leaving locals and visitors alike to find any way they can to keep the mercury down.  Some become shut-ins moving between their air-conditioned homes to their air-conditioned cars to their air-conditioned jobs and back again; some take to the beaches, lakes and pools to swim and soak the heat away; still others turn to cold drinks, ices and of course ice cream to keep cool. 

The origins of ice cream are a convoluted tangle of misinformation and repetition.  This seems to happen because non-dairy puddings and other chilled desserts are treated as synonymous with ice cream – causing a confusion of substance, time and place.

Although the Chinese seem to get the most credit for developing ice cream, the one really important thing that bothers me about this version of history is that milk and milk products do not form a large part of the Chinese diet.   The Tibetans and of course the Mongolians have lots of dairy in their diets, but the Han Chinese and other ethnic groups do not.  Although a modern artisanal cheese industry is today taking root in China and producing Gouda and other western varieties, traditionally, cheese is not something associated with Chinese cuisine.  Bean curd-based concoctions, whether fried, dried or in soup or pudding form, these are often referred to as, “Chinese cheese”.   There are only two traditional buffalo milk-based puddings that are sometimes eaten chilled that have any relation to ice cream, namely Jiang Zhuang Nai  姜撞奶 – the sweet gingery pudding and Shuang Pi Nai  双皮奶 – which is a sweetened, cooked “custard” of milk and egg whites encased between two milk skins.

The pages of Marco Polo’s Travels record a lot of milk being enjoyed as cheese, curds, yogurt, milk, and even a sort of vodka (arkhi) in the Yuan court.  So after the 13^th Century, milk enters the Chinese diet through the Mongolian-led dynasty.  However there is no mention of ice-cream, or anything resembling it. 

In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), however, a poem entitled Ode to the Ice Cheese “詠冰酪” was written by the poet Yang Wanli (1127–1206).

It looks so smooth but still has a crisp texture,
It appears congealed and yet it seems to float.
Like jade, it breaks at the bottom of the dish;
As with snow, it melts in the light of the sun.

So it’s still possible that the roots of ice cream in China preceded the rule of the Mongols. But from where did the idea come from?  Was it indeed an indigenous Chinese idea, or was it an adaptation of an idea that came from far-away shores?

Although information is hard to come by, a few pieces of information have solid references behind them.  Ice harvested in the winter or from ice-covered mountainous regions and then used to increase the storage time of foods has been used in many cultures for millennia.  The Persians had yakhchals to keep the ice frozen during the warm seasons and the Chinese and Mesopotamians had icehouses.  Documentary sources exist of orders of ice coming from pharaonic Egypt to keep food in the warmest months.

The first recorded ice-desserts are honey and fruit flavored sorbets offered for sale in Athenian markets in the 5^th Century BCE.  Both the Persians and the Chinese enjoyed ice or snow flavored with honey and fruit or sugary syrups.  For the Persians, sherbet was more of a drink than the frozen dessert we now know by the same name.  In the 4^th Century BCE, the Persians were enjoying an ancestor of today’s chilled faloodeh pudding made from vermicelli noodles, rosewater, lime juice and a bit of cornstarch for thickening.

The next data point we have is from Pliny the Younger recording Emperor Nero (54 to 68 CE) sending slaves to the mountains to gather snow and ice for as a basis for desserts flavored with berries and nuts.  This doesn’t seem to be an advance on what the Greeks were doing five centuries earlier, but rather a simple repetition of a great idea.

Song Dynasty Elegant Party

So to the first century CE, we have ice and snow-based desserts flavored with fruit, nuts and syrups, in both east and west, chilled drinks on a shaved or crushed ice base in the west, and a rocking, chilled wheat based pudding also in the west.  The next innovation that I have come across that walks us a step closer to ice cream is the addition of buffalo milk to the faloodeh.  This seems to have occurred in China’s Tang Dynasty (618 to 907 CE) where a frozen concoction of milk, flour and camphor was enjoyed in the royal court. 

Not to cut the Chinese short, but I think this likely ancestor of modern ice cream is more of a cross-cultural innovation than a singlularly Chinese invention.

The reasons for this is that the Ummayads had a permanent presence in China by the Tang Dynasty with the arrival of an Arab Ambassador in 713.  The Great Mosque of Xian was built in 742, and the relationship between China and foreign Muslim states and peoples thrived until over four million Muslims were living in China by the dawn of the Yuan Dyansty.  I think it likely during this early period of globalization, that Persians or Arabs introduced faloodeh to the Chinese and then the dessert was adapted to better meet Chinese tastes.

Interestingly, I’ve seen references (that I cannot confirm) to the Indian use of ice and salt to create an endothermic reaction used to lower the temperature of other substances as early as the 4^th Century CE.  Also the Arabs are credited with being the first to sweeten ice-desserts with sugar instead of honey or fruit juice. 

By the 10^th Century CE, ice cream was widespread amongst many of the Arab world’s major cities, such as Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, so there is no need (given the lack of evidence) to credit Marco Polo with introducing ice cream to Europe after returning home from his eastern travels.  It is more likely the Persians and Arabs that introduced it to their trading partmers to the West.

Greeks, Persians, Chinese, Arabs, and Indians all can be referenced with developing some part of the process of freezing and flavoring ice, milk or cream to come up with ice cream.  Sounds like a Silk Road creation to me!  I see ideas flowing around the globe,  innovations taking place and being passed on to the next place until a precursor to the modern product emerged.

Fast-forward to today and we find some amazing innovations in ice cream flavors coming out of Hong Kong – including: Sichuan pepper and Morello cherry flavored ice cream.  Other flavors also offered are: black sesame, jasmine tea, pear and port and even gorgonzola ice cream. (Words by Laura Kelley, Ice Cream and Fruit © Vadim Kolobanov | Dreamstime.com, painting of Song Dynasty Elegant Party from Wikimedia.)

Mei-Mei grasped the warm, firm dumpling in her trembling fingers and brought it to her
eager lips.
Before she tasted it, she inhaled its strong fragrance to appreciate its power.
She licked her lips in anticipation, then secretly let her tongue explore the
folds of its flesh.
Unable to resist any longer, she nibbled lightly at the dough and her mouth was suddenly filled with
a salty, slightly sour sauce. . .  

Yes, I hope you like my lovely but somewhat tawdry example of food porn – the written or graphic description of food with deliberate sensual or sexual overtones.  Contrary to most people’s assumption, food porn wasn’t invented by Madison Avenue.  It is centuries old and can be found in serious literature from early Chinese poetry to Emil Zola. The graphic representation of food as sex is also ancient, but has been brought to new heights in recent years by digital imagery.  The purpose of food porn in all its forms  is and has always been to compare and associate two of life’s great pleasures – food and sex.  

Blue Lotus

The association of food and sex beyond literature and graphic representation is a science unto itself.  There are thousands of foods, substances and herbal combinations that people have used to increase sexual performance and satisfaction over the millennia.  From Aztec chocolate and Egyptian blue lotus and honey to Indian asafetida and Chinese licorice – cultures around the world have looked to food to enhance their sexual enjoyment.   Modern science has confirmed that some of these substances could indeed act as aphrodisiacs, for example, Egyptian blue lotus have phosphodiesterase inhibitors similar to those used in Viagra.    

I confess that food porn has long been a Cheshire pleasure of mine and am writing to defend it from the coalition of moralists and gluttons who have been perverting the definition to disgust rather than delight viewers and readers.  Instead of reveling the sensual depiction of food as we have done for millennia, the term food porn is increasingly being used to describe excessive food such as overstuffed sandwiches, five pound pizzas and the competitive eating of greasy, food-like constructions.   Instead of the evocative description of a peach as rendered by DH Lawrence:  

Why so velvety, why so voluptuous heavy . . .
Why the groove?
Why the lovely bivalve roundness?
Why the ripple down the sphere?
Why the suggestion of incision? 

People are using the term food porn more and more to describe “Fat Bitch” sandwiches such as this one.  To those of you not in the know, a Fat Bitch consists of an sandwich roll, cheesesteak, chicken fingers, french fries, mozzarella cheese sticks, mayonaisse, ketchup, lettuce and tomato (sometimes it also has marinara sauce as well).

Fat-Bitch-Sandwich

The Fat Bitch also has friends, one of which is the pound and a half Fat Lion, which consists of cheesesteak, hamburger, chicken fingers, bacon, gyro meat, mozzarella sticks and jalapeno poppers.  Another friend is  the Fat Mojo which features two cheese burgers, two mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, bacon, eggs, mayonnaise and ketchup. 

 When character Dave Lister ate things like his famous fried egg, cheese, chili and chutney sandwich on the Red Dwarf television show, most of us laughed – especially when his roommate Rimmer declared that eating the sandwich was a cross between giving birth and bowel surgery, but excessive sandwiches are another food trend that is all too real.  There is now a franchise called Sandwich University that aims to bring these sandwiches to a college campus near you.  The most alarming thing to me about these sandwiches isn’t the offensive taste of combining all of these junk foods in one package, it isn’t the health risks posed by eating food like this too frequently, it’s that the trend has spread far beyond drunk or hungover, hungry and near broke college kids.  It’s that people who can afford better (and who should know better) are also eating these things too.  

Several years ago, when I first saw the term food porn used to describe these sandwiches and other excessive eating, I thought it was a misuse of the term on the part of the author of the article. Since then however, the association between the two seems increasingly common.  I find this offensive, not only because as a lover of good food and wine, I find food like the Fat Mojo offensive, but as a lover of classic food porn, I don’t want images and depictions of food that disgusts me as part of the food porn oeuvre.      Well, fans of the sensual and deliberately sexual description of food – I say it’s high time to reclaim food porn as something positive.  I will grant that food porn as I think of it is a bit peculiar and not for all tastes, but I refuse to let the term be co-opted by those out there commenting (usually negatively) on excessive food and competitive eating.  There is nothing wrong with the sensual depiction of food whether it is to use food imagery to describe the beauty of a loved one as in Zhao Luanluan’s 8^th Century poem The Sandalwood Mouth:   

The cup in her mouth slightly moves her cherry lips
A gentle cough sends out the fragrance of jasmine . . .
With teeth even and as white as melon seeds, she is fragrant like a pomegranate. . .    

or to food and cooking being used to deftly describe a sexual relationship as in The Illiad:    

. . . Achilles carved,
then sliced the meat well and forked it upon the spits.
Meanwhile, Patroclus, like a God in firelight,
made the hearth blaze up . . . 

In these verses, food is revered as beautiful, powerful and worthy of the place that we reserve for it in our cultures and on our tables around the world.  Let us not degrade and insult the elements of food porn in these works by allowing the definition to slip to include descriptions of the Fat Mojo.  Food is powerful, and something so simple as eating a pomegranate has alternatively, over the ages, been described as a crime worthy of divine punishment – as when Eve consumes one, or an act that can make a man invincible as when Isfandiyar ate his.   (All words except cited verse by Laura Kelley.  Photo of the Blue Lotus and the Fat Bitch borrowed from Google images)

We had a wonderful dinner party on Saturday night with a selection of Indian subcontinental food.  The dinner was to celebrate the announcement of the secret marriage of a couple of friends and to give a former Londoner some of the curry that he so sorely misses.  The meal was also a  rewarding end to a couple of days of cooking by yours truly.  In truth, I’ve been working this dinner for a couple of months.  I made the mango pickle a couple of months ago, the vindaloo paste two weeks ago and the chutneys several days ago.  Despite all the work, I simply love hearing that the shrimp in spicy tamarind-tomato sauce with hints of mustard and fennel is, “amazing” to one of our guests.  Our menu included:

Appetizers
Spicy Cucumber Wedges
Pakistani Bean Salad
Pakistani Riata (Yogurt and Cucumber Dip)
Cashews with Black Pepper
Punjab Snacks

Bread, Condiments and Rice
Naan  (plain)
Papad (cumin seed and chili)
Mango Pickle
Tomato Chutney
Cucumber Chutney
Rice with Garlic and Pine Roasted Nuts
Spiced Saffron Rice

Main Dishes
Lamb Vindaloo
Bangladeshi Chicken and Pineapple
Shrimp in Spicy Tomato Sauce
Sweet and Sour Okra
Butternut Squash in Coconut Cream

Desserts
Gulab Jamun
Bengali Rasgulla
Cardamom and Rose Lassi

The Pakistani Bean Salad is an all-time winner with its grapeseed oil sweetness blending with chili peppers and white vinegar for a sweet and sour treat, and for the cucumber wedges, I used a garam masala to flavor them instead of ground cumin for a sweet but spicy surprise.  The spicy Pakistani Riata, the chutneys and the pickle were also enjoyed with the selection of breads while we waited for the mains to heat up.  My favorite of the three is the cucumber chutney with malt vinegar and ginger bringing a great zing to the natual cool of the the cucumbers.

Shrimp in a Spicy Sauce

The main dishes were served with two contrasting rices.  The mild Pakistani rice with loads of garlic and roasted pinenuts brought a gentle flavor that origninated in the Arab world and traveled to Pakistan along with goods, beliefs and ideals, and the spiced saffron was flavored with cardamom, cinnamon and cloves was well as saffron and sweet butter.   For our London friend, I made a proper lamb vindaloo that made him sweat after a few mouthfuls.  For his new American wife, who has less of a taste for spice, I made a sweeter Bangladeshi curry of chicken and pineapples.  For myself, I prepared one of my favorites: a curry of shrimp in a tamarind tomato sauce with dashes of mustard and licorice-like fennel.  The vegetables on the omnivore table were a lovely butternut squash with mustard seeds in sweet coconut cream and a sweet and sour okra served a sides – but they could easily have been enjoyed as part of a series of main dishes on a vegetarian spread.

Our guests were serious Whovians, the desserts – two subcontinental sweets in syrup were an afterthought – eaten  in near silence while watching the second “Weeping Angels” episode of the Matt Smith Dr. Who series.  We also had good chardonnay and Williamsburg mulled and plain ciders flowing all night

A lovely evening with some happy people.  Good food, good friends, a shared interest – a wonderful evening which I am happy for, but still tired from as I look forward to another week of work.  Still, these are the moments that sustain us.  Leftovers, however, will also sustain both families for some time to come as well!  (All recipes from the Silk Road Gourmet Volume 1; Words by Laura Kelley; Photo of Shrimp in Spicy Tomato Sauce by Celeste Heiter).

Daggerhandle and jewels from a Chinese Silk Road Ship

The contents of a sunken Chinese ship estimated to be more than 1000 years old will be coming to auction soon according to a spokesman from the Government of Indonesia. The contents of the ancient ship has been salvaged and curated over the last few years will soon be available for public sale. The bulk of the material salvaged was fine Chinese white or green ware, but the hull also contained Egyptian artifacts and Lebanese glass. The wooden ship sank in the Java Sea and provides importance evidence of the Silk Road maritime trade from over a millennium ago.

Although precious, sunken Chinese ships laden with goods from around the globe are common enough to warrant their own museum as witnessed by the opening of the Guangdong Maritime Silk Road Museum, in Yangjiang City, China.

This is an unusual stew from the Northeast of Iran near Mashhad that borders on Turkmenistan.  It uses that Central Asian wonder – rhubarb – as a souring agent to complement the earthy lamb, much as sour plums or sour cherries are used.  Like many other Central Asian dishes, it also relies on herbs rather than spices for much of its flavor.  It’s a great example of the foods that came flooding west from the various Persian conquests of the territories to its north and east.  Since rhubarb is being rediscovered as a vegetable, it is often available beyond its traditional short “season” which allows this recipe to be made almost any time of the year.

3/4 pound lamb cut into cubes
2 tablespoons light sesame or peanut oil
1 large onion, peeled, sliced and separated into crescents
3 teaspoons garlic, peeled and diced
4 hot, dried, red chili peppers
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup water
1 cup beef or chicken stock (or a mixture of both)
1/2 -1 corm nutmeg, grated
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped (more to taste)
1 medium bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
11/2 tablespoons sugar (more to taste)
3 cups fresh rhubarb, cleaned and cut into 1-inch slices

Heat oil in a medium saucepan and when hot, sear lamb cubes over high heat until golden brown around the edges – stirring constantly.  When meat is done, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. 

Lower heat to medium and add the onions, sautéing until they start to soften and color.  Then add garlic, chili peppers, salt and pepper and stir until the garlic starts to swell and color.  When garlic is done, add water and beef or chicken stock and cook to heat.  When hot, add lamb back into the pot, grate half of the corm of nutmeg into the stew.   Cover and cook over medium-low or low for 1 hour – stirring occasionally – until lamb becomes tender.

When lamb is nearly done, add the chopped mint and stir well.  Then add the cilantro and sugar and stir in as well.  Cook for another 3-5 minutes and then add the rhubarb and cook another 3-5 minutes or until the rhubarb softens, but is still firm (not soggy).  Remove from heat, grate the remainder of the nutmeg in and serve.