Ok, lots of things are happening. But one is so stunningly woven into the next Curated Feast, that I had to blog about it immediately:

As I am wrapping up the details of the Silk Road Feast, I realized that the Queen of England sat down with Chinese president Xi Jinping, at Buckingham Palace, this past Tuesday. The lavish estate dinner featured some Scottish Balmoral venison, which illicited pride in he Herald Scotland. And it certainly did not escape the Herald's attention that bagpipes were featured in addition to orchestral versions of Eleanor Rigby and the theme from The Spy Who Loved Me. (All of this is real, folks.)

The South China Morning Post weighed in: "The Chinese president, who has been known to burnish his populist credentials at home during simple dumpling meals at communal tables in Beijing workers’ restaurants, sat down to something entirely different during the palace meal hosted by the Queen."

And because I am in the business of hosting events, I had to look up how the menu was presented. This one, according to The Guardian, was apparently in French. Now really, what is going on? WThis is beyond incredible—this blend of influences is so thoroughly postmodern.

And all of this is happening while I am wrapping up my menu for The Silk Road? This is something worthy of exploring for more than just a dinner. In fact, I am convinced that this dinner now needs a whole semester. One night is not nearly enough to digest this.

And beyond this incredibly plural imperial banquet, the references to the Silk Road just will not stop flooding the news, in the last couple weeks. It's funny that while I am trying to focus on the historical silken threads for the stories in this dinner, I am getting hit over the head with the contemporary tangled web. Message received!

Some examples of recent Silk Road news items:

There's something happening here. What it is a'int exactly clear. The Curated Feast is here to find out.

— Liz Birnbaum, Founder/Curator of The Curated Feast

Something is Happening