If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving today, perhaps the “taste of home” will move you to tears. If so, you’ve got something in common with Babur, the first Mughal emperor 1/5

The 16th-century emperor was a descendant of both the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur and the world-conqueror himself, Genghis/Chinggis Khan 2/5

According to Howard Kaplan: “While he was conquering northern India, Babur lamented the paucity of the fruit available in his new kingdom. He had melons of Central Asia rapidly transplanted in India…" 3/5

“but during Babur’s lifetime, these had limited horticultural success. To the homesick Babur, the fruit was a means of connecting with his long-lost homeland; according to the emperor’s memoir, the Baburnama, he wept upon tasting one”. 4/5

From Central Asian melons to Indian mangoes: “Throughout the reign of the Mughals, fruit occupied a special place in court culture as well as on the court’s table” (H/T @BishkekSpotting): https://asia.si.edu/food-for-thought-melons-mangoes-and-mughals/ 5/5