From: fakeaddress@sbcglobal.net   
      
   Why the British Sunday lunch was the toast of Manhattan   
      
   Hadley Freeman in New York   
   Monday May 1, 2006   
   The Guardian   
      
   It was just going to be, the invitation promised "a British   
   Sunday lunch ... potatoes and Yorkshire pudding", confirmed   
   a spokesperson.  "Just a very traditional Sunday roast."   
   And so it was -- sort of.  For a start, it was held in   
   a trendy Manhattan hotel, hosted by Christopher Bailey,   
   designer for Burberry, and cooked by Jamie Oliver.   
   But it was really the guestlist that elevated the event.   
      
   True, it was a very British group, but one from a very   
   particular side of British life: Sienna Miller, Anna Wintour,   
   Rupert Everett, Bryan Ferry, Alexandra Shulman, Emily Mortimer,   
   David Furnish, Manolo Blahnik, Nick Rhodes, Vivienne Westwood   
   and Matthew Williamson all turned up to eat seven hour cooked   
   brisket in the Manhattan sunshine.   
      
   By the time Victoria Beckham arrived, all set for her roast   
   potatoes and boiled cabbage, memories of Sunday lunches of   
   chewing burnt spuds with granny in front of the Eastenders   
   omnibus vanished.   
      
   The menu was, as promised, very traditional, albeit described   
   in inimitable Jamie Oliver style: the roast beef was not   
   merely roast beef but "old school roast beef"; the jelly   
   with elderflower was "incredible."   
      
   "I met Christopher and he was such a nice boy so I said to him,   
   let's do a proper mum's-style Sunday lunch, but with tweaks,   
   y'know what I mean, darlin'?" Oliver explained.   
      
   Was he nervous about cooking for so many A-list people with   
   their wheat/dairy/calorie allergies?  Oliver's face darkened   
   slightly.  "I didn't adapt the menu at all, no.   
      
   "And I'm not very good with that celebrity stuff anyway.   
   I rely on Jools [his wife] to tell me who everyone is."   
      
   As Sienna Miller passed Bryan Ferry the roast potatoes, and   
   Victoria Beckham chatted happily with Christopher Bailey,   
   some of the non-British guests looked a little more   
   discomfited by this immersion in British life.   
      
   "Yorkshire pudding?  Now, I know that's not actually pudding,   
   right? I want to say it's something to do with suet -- am I   
   getting close?" shuddered David Duchovny.  Another American   
   accent cried that they hadn't seen so much meat on their   
   plate "since the Carter years".   
      
   Victoria Beckham was more sanguine.  Instead, she focused on   
   her after-lunch activities: "I'm really excited as I'll be   
   doing some vintage shopping downtown and will hopefully   
   pick up a couple of things for David," she smiled.   
      
   The Burberry lunch kicked off what is set to be three days   
   of a celebration of British style New York.   
      
   Today, the Anglomania exhibition is launched at the   
   Metropolitan Museum of Art, showcasing the work of   
   British designers, including Westwood, Alexander McQueen,   
   Stella McCartney and Philip Treacy.   
      
   The opening party, or "ball" as it is insistently described,   
   has already been loudly proclaimed as "the party of the year"   
   for the past four months and, with Sarah Jessica Parker,   
   Victoria Beckham and Kate Moss promised to attend, it will   
   certainly at least be the paparazzi event of the year.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)