A Plum Blossom pastry dating from the seventh to ninth century A.D. is missing only the dollop of preserves that would have been in its hollow center.
The twisted doughnut in the exhibition, dating from the Tang Dynasty, resembles a Shrinky Dink version of the same pastry available today in the museum's Pepper Mill Cafe.
How can this be?
"The extremely dry climate in the Tarim Basin," in Central Asia, southwest of the Gobi Desert, "preserved this food," according to E.N. Anderson, an anthropologist at the University of California, Riverside.
The wonton and the spring roll, Anderson writes in the museum's Expedition magazine, undoubtedly had fillings, but the contents are long dried out now and impossible to identify.
Still, these artifacts are not that far afield in appearance from the wontons and spring rolls that we eat today and call Chinese food.
The landmark Silk Road exhibition, making its only East Coast appearance at the Penn Museum, has been much publicized because it features two rare mummies; it gleaned tremendous attention when the Chinese government initially refused to let the museum display the mummies. China relented, though, and the real mummies can be seen now through Tuesday.
The rest of the Silk Road artifacts, along with the food finds, are in place for the duration. (For information on the exhibition, including hours and ticket prices, go to www.penn.museum.)
To emphasize the presence of these culinary relics, the museum cafe, now run by Wolfgang Puck Catering, is offering an extended menu with a mix of fresh "re-creations" of the preserved foods, some much sought-after Chinese and Indian teas, and a full roster of Silk Road-inspired regional dishes.
