Anna Ansari is an Azeri-Iranian-American-Canadian food writer and former international trade attorney whose work explores how food moves—across borders, cultures, and generations. Her debut cookbook, Silk Roads: A Flavour Odyssey from Baku to Beijing, blends recipes with travel, family stories, and history, and was shortlisted for the 2026 Fortnum & Mason Debut Cookery Book Award and the 2026 Guild of Food Writers Debut Book Award. Recently, Anna won the Guild of Food Writers 2026 Food Writer of the Year Award for her writing in independent publications. 

With academic training in Asian and Middle Eastern studies (a BA in Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures from Barnard College, Columbia University, and an MA in East Asian Studies from Yale University),  the ethnically and culturally multi-hyphenate writer lives in East London with her husband, son and cat, and believes deeply in the power of the home kitchen to tell global stories. You can find Anna on Instagram @thisplacetastesdelicious and via her newsletter, Where in the World is Anna Ansari?!