“Stepping off the plane in a new city, I inhale, searching already for the closest food stalls or local markets. In the same way people travel to gawk at the Great Pyramids or to climb the tallest mountains, I travel for the cuisine. A city can lie its way into a traveler’s heart, but in back alleys down winding, brick-laid roads, the bubbling curries or crispy delicacies are beacons of pure honesty.   Food teaches me about the mundane, the beautiful, the oppression, the squalor and the extravagance of a place in a way that nothing else can. A people’s history lives on my fork, dances across my taste buds and nourishes my soul as it warms its way through my body.  For me, inspiration comes in the form of turmeric and paprika, galangal and ginger. It weaves a path past city squares, ducks behind bright doorways, moves to the rhythms of a tea kettle and explodes in color over the rice paddies, bringing me back to where it all started, and gathering strength for where it has …