Dr. Simi Rezai-Ghassemi is a food ethnographer and storyteller specializing in the foodways of Turkic Eurasia, a region often celebrated as a cradle of both food and civilization. She earned her PhD from the University of Bath in 2004 for her dissertation applying evolutionary theory to the study of micro firms. Fluent in the major languages of the region, she combines ethnographic research with hands-on experience to document and interpret seasonal food traditions, revealing the stories behind these practices and how they continue to shape the way we eat today.