This is the tale of a journey between three great cities Odessa, built on a dream by Catherine the Great, through Istanbul, the fulcrum balancing Europe and Asia and on to tough, stoic, lyrical Trabzon.

With a nose for a good recipe and an ear for an extraordinary story, Caroline Eden travels from Odessa to Bessarabia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey s Black Sea region, exploring interconnecting culinary cultures. From the Jewish table of Odessa, to meeting the last fisherwoman of Bulgaria and charting the legacies of the White Russian émigrés in Istanbul, Caroline gives readers a unique insight into a part of the world that is both shaded by darkness and illuminated by light.

Meticulously researched and documenting unprecedented meetings with remarkable individuals, Black Sea is like no other piece of travel writing. Packed with rich photography and sumptuous food, this biography of a region, its people and its recipes truly breaks new ground.

‘The next best thing to actually travelling with Caroline Eden a warm, erudite and greedy guide is to read her. This is my kind of book.’ Diana Henry

‘A wonderfully inspiring book about a magical part of the world’ Viv Groskop, author of The Anna Karenina Fix

‘Part travelogue, part recipe book, this is a love letter to the sea that welcomes strangers , soaked in colour, history, myth and the flavours of many cultures.’ Nick Hunt author of Where the Wild Winds Are