The outdoor bazaars along the Silk Road may be the best examples of food being a universal bridge that brings people and culture together. This bazaar in Urumqui (Xinjiang, China) was typical of the outdoor markets we saw all over Western China. Rows of street vendors selling nuts, dates, fresh/dried fruits, tea, spices etc. Amidst the funkier looking things, seeing all the familiar foodstuff, from Saudi dates, to Vietnamese cinnamon, was a reminder of how compressed the world is. These Bazaars were, it's said, the original source of cultural exchange and the means through which great culinary ideas passed through. This explains the noodle heavy cuisine (sometimes not a far just from spagetti smothered in a tomato-based sauce, sometimes more like a Vietnamese pho) or the grilled meats that would feel familiar in Turkey or India. Pretty amazing to consider the kind of influence and cross-pollination that goes on from such disparate regions. See where a little openness can take you?