Our common nature is a musical journey with Yo-Yo Ma and me, Ana Gonzalez, through this

complicated country.

We go into caves, onto boats, and up mountain trails to meet people, hear their stories,

their poetry, and of course, play some music, all to reconnect to nature and get closer to the things we're missing.

Listen to Our Common Nature from WNYC wherever you get podcasts.

Hey, it's Francis Lamb, and thanks for downloading this Splend at Table podcast.

We hope you count on us for cooking, culture, and conversation all year round,

and we count on support from listeners like you. So please help chip in to help us make the show

you'll love. Give today at splendidtable.org slash donate.

This is the splendid table from APM, American Public Media, the show for people who love to eat. I'm Lynne Rosetta, Casper.

In the Rome of the Caesars, you could have had yards of Chinese silk cut out for an outfit.

And at about the same time in China, a princess was buried with what was described as a pasta maker from the West,

along with detailed notes on pasta dishes.

The Great Silk Road had begun, and it would, and this is no exaggeration,

change the world. The trade route began in China, climbed into treacherous mountain ranges,

and down into lands with names like Desert of Death. Well, an insane route? Maybe,

but the payoffs could be astronomical.

At the Silk Road's hub was a mythical-sounding city, Samarkand, the proverbial crossroads

of foods, peoples, cultures, and goods that we can only imagine.

So is anything left today? British travel writer Caroline Eden had to know, as did her colleague,

food writer Eleanor Ford. Their discoveries are in the book Samarkand, recipes and stories

from Central Asia and the Caucasus. Caroline, Eleanor, could you have you with us? Hello. Thank you for

...