Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford, travelers, cooks, photographers, and writers, have worked together since they met in 1985. Their interest is to understand and appreciate staple foods and daily home-cooked foods in their cultural context.

They do much of their travel, food research, and photography in Asia. Their latest book, Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes & Travels in the Other China takes readers to Tibet, to the Silk Road oases of Xinjiang, to Inner Mongolia, to Yunnan, Qinghai, and to Guizhou, all provinces that lie outside central China and that are home to distinctive cultures and cuisines.

All six of Jeffrey and Naomi’s books are award-winners. Flatbreads & Flavors and Hot Sour Salty Sweet both won the James Beard Cookbook of the Year Award (in 1996 and 2001 respectively). Seductions of Rice and HomeBaking, each won a Cuisine Canada Cookbook Award (in 1999 and 2004). Mangoes and Curry Leaves explores the food and culture of the Indian subcontinent and won an IACP award in the International category in 2005. In spring 2009 Beyond the Great Wall was named best International cookbook by both the James Beard Foundation and the IACP.

Naomi and Jeffrey are contributing editors for Saveur magazine and their work has appeared in many food magazines, including Food & Wine, Food Arts, Gourmet, and others. They were the recently the subject of an award-winning one-hour documentary film by Jacques Menard, The Recipe Diaries and were part of the PBS series Baking with Julia. They contributed to the book of the same name.

Naomi gives slide show-lectures about food traditions around the world. Jeffrey's and her stock photo library, Asia Access, specializes in images of food, agriculture, and traditional cultures. For more information about Naomi’s upcoming cultural tours, go to www.immersethrough.com webside is www.hotsoursaltysweet.com  Her blog is naomiduguid.blogspot.com.. Another