On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome With Love and Pasta

Chicago-born Jen Lin-Liu has written extensively about food, culture and travel for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. Her latest book, On the Noodle Road, is a travelogue dedicated to noodles and pasta across the length of what is known today as the Silk Road.

It all began, she tell us, with a cooking class given by Andrea, the chef of Le Fate, a restaurant in the old Roman quarter of Trastevere. "Americans," said Andrea, "think that Italians use a lot of garlic. We do not use a lot of garlic, delete this information from your brain!"