Silk road on a plate

Food, diplomacy and the ancient trade route come together for a week of savory celebration, Mike Peters reports.

There are dates from Tunisia. Grapes - and raisins - from China's Xinjiang. Coconuts from Southeast Asia. Wines from Venice. In a line of cooking stations, a Czech chef bastes a roast, an Indonesian chef tosses noodles in a bright yellow sauce, and a dozen of their peers whip up "the best foods their countries have to offer".

If the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in May was all about global development, last week's Belt and Road Gastrodiplomacy Meeting was all about food.