Famed cookbook writer Naomi Duguid is traveling the former Persian Empire for her next book

Naomi Duguid, the Toronto cookbook author and world-traveller, is writing a new cookbook on Persian cuisine. After quitting her job as a lawyer to write full-time in 1995, she put out five cookbooks with ex-husband Jeffrey Alford, winning the Cookbook of the Year award from the James Beard Foundation twice. Her first solo project, Burma: Rivers of Flavours, involved touring the Asian nation for four years, tasting traditional flavours in bus terminals, markets and tea shops, and earlier this week it won the International Association of Culinary Professionals award for best culinary travel work. Her next book is tentatively titled The Persian World, and it explores the cuisines of Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. It won’t hit shelves anytime soon though—she plans to research and travel for another two years. In the meantime, you can follow her sprawling blog posts about her globetrotting adventures here.