A brief history of dumplings - Miranda Brown
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As archaeologists pored over ancient tombs in western China, they discovered some surprisingly well-preserved and familiar relics. Though hardened over 1,000 years, there sat little crescent-shaped dumplings. So who invented these plump pockets of perfection, and how did they spread across the world? Miranda Brown traces the tangled, mysterious historical web of dumplings.
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Additional Resources for you to Explore
Historians have long been fascinated with the history of dumplings. In 2013, the Oxford Symposium published Wrapped and Stuffed Foods: Proceedings on the Symposium: Foods and Cookery, 2012. It is available as a free Google Book. You can read about the origins and relationship between dumplings, as well as some of the controversies.
For readers interested in learning more about how the Silk Road contributed to the spread of foodways across Eurasia, Crossroads of Cuisine: The Eurasian Heartland, the Silk Roads and Food by Paul David Buell et al. It is available for download as an Open Access book.
If you are interested in learning more about historical menus, the New York City Public Library hosts a searchable database called “What’s on the Menu?" It contains 17,000+ American restaurant menus.
For readers interested in learning more about how the Silk Road contributed to the spread of foodways across Eurasia, Crossroads of Cuisine: The Eurasian Heartland, the Silk Roads and Food by Paul David Buell et al. It is available for download as an Open Access book.
If you are interested in learning more about historical menus, the New York City Public Library hosts a searchable database called “What’s on the Menu?" It contains 17,000+ American restaurant menus.

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