Red Sands by Caroline Eden

Caroline Eden has followed up her award- winning book Black Sea (which featured Odessa, Istanbul, and Trabzon) with another excellent travelogue with recipes, Red Sands. Venturing into Central Asia (Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), Eden traverses mountains, sand dunes, and cities, and writes of the people, history, and culinary culture of the region. I love learning about a new-to-me part of the world through its food, and Eden is an excellent guide. Her captivating prose is matched by the book’s exquisite photography. — S.B.