Laura grew up outside of NYC with her Italian Dad and German Mom.  Food was central to their existence.  When Laura ws exposed to Indian cuisine at 13, it sparked her already adventuresome soul. She became enamoured with all things exotic.  At 16, she had the opportunity to spend 3 months in Thailand and that began her lifetime of curiousity and travel.  While Laura traveled all over the world as a biologist, she never lost her connection to food and cooking, especially as an expression of love.

Laura became interested in the cuisines of the SIlk Road.  The silk road is a vast network of trading places that connect East Asia to West Asia and into Europe. Globalization, according to Laura began with the spice routes.  She saw the patterns of how things moved from far away to where people who used them. She notes that sesame is an African plant that seeded itself across Asia. 

This is a wonderfully education interview.  Laura wrote the Silk Road Gourmet to explore the patterns of flavors and the interconnectedness of food, culture and history. The Silk Road Gourmet: Volume One: Western and Southern Asia would be an asset to any cook's book shelf!