Cultural legacy of the Silk Road: Exchanges of culinary traditions

The ancient Silk Road facilitated the diffusion of various kinds of fruits, vegetables, spices and culinary traditions which we now take for granted. For example, as Professor Xi pointed out, beef and mutton that are used to make the famous Shaanxi dish niurou paomo or yangrou paomo, which means beef or lamb stew with pita bread, were introduced to China from Western Asia about 4,500 years ago.

Festa mentions a myth between China and Italy on the origin of pasta, whether the pasta really originated from the noodles that Marco Polo brought to Italy. But the very fact of the existence of this myth testifies to  the "spirit of the Silk Road", she says."It says that we really are like one big community. Our basic needs are the same. And taste could be shared".