Contemporary Food

Abstract

The weight of tradition is clear in modern Central Asian foodways. They are, on the whole, much as the Medieval travelers described them. By far the most obvious change is the coming of New World food crops: maize, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, and others. These were totally new when they appeared in the 1500s and spread only slowly; they received a major boost from the USSR. They are still spreading today. Influences from China and India have become stronger but were evident from earliest times. The Eurasian heartland reminds us more clearly than any other region on earth that humans