The dastarkhan is the cloth, the table, and the code of conduct around both. Nobody eats until everyone is seated. The bread is torn, never cut. The guest is fed before the host. It is the oldest technology in this building for turning strangers into people who owe each other something - and for a thousand years it did on the Silk Road exactly what this forum is trying to do now. One hour, one table, the morning's arguments continued over food. Come hungry and sit next to someone you disagreed with.

