What food was well known along the Silk Road?

The road covers many cities and places in Western China and many foods are famous, such as the beef noodles of Lanzhou, Crumbled Unleavened Bread in Mutton Stew of Xian, Naan Bread of Xinjiang and so on.

The goods carried on the road moved basically from the East to the West. Judging by the road’s name silk was the main commodity in the list. Thanks to its light weight, compactness, enormous demand and high price it was ideal for trade and long-distance transportation.At the initial stage of the road development Chinese received expensive horses and the seeds of lucerne and grapes. The ancient world had cultivated grapevine and made wines from time immemorial. But for Chinese, separated from other civilizations, grapes were a novelty. Moreover, Chinese envoys were very surprised when they found that it was possible to make wine not only from rice but also from berries unknown to them. Later Chinese discovered for themselves other agricultural crops – string beans, onions, cucumbers, carrots, pomegranates, figs etc.