Cranbrook.edu

Anna Ansari ’98 Brings Silk Roads to Michigan

11/13/2025

Anna Ansari ’98 recently returned to Michigan for a special event celebrating the release of her debut cookbook, Silk Roads — A Flavor Odyssey, at Zingerman’s Roadhouse in Ann Arbor. The evening featured an on-stage conversation with Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig and a tasting menu inspired by Anna’s recipes, featuring dishes from Georgia, Iran, and Tajikistan. Alumni, friends, and family gathered to celebrate her achievement and enjoy a taste of her culinary journey on her book tour stop in Michigan. She also had a chance to get her feet back on Cranbrook soil—a stop she describes as “mandatory” whenever she’s home, a way to recenter herself and reconnect with the place that sparked her early creativity.

With a life that bridges continents and cultures, Anna approaches food as both storyteller and scholar. As an Iranian American from Detroit now living in London, she has turned her global perspective into a platform for exploring how flavors and traditions connect us all. Silk Roads traces the movement of ingredients and ideas across Asia—from Baku to Beijing—revealing how migration and memory shape the world’s shared culinary traditions. Her work has been recognized by the Yan-Kit So and Jane Grigson Trust Awards and featured in leading food publications in the U.S. and U.K.

Learn more about Silk Roads — A Flavor Odyssey here
Click here to watch Anna share some of her dishes on CBS Saturday Morning's "The Dish"

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- Anna Ansari '98 welcomed classmate Janelin Sendow Regiec to the book event
- Signing a book for Darcy Piedmonte '86
- Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig interviewing Anna
- Anna Ansari '98 taking questions at the Zingerman's book event