Food, people, stories: The magic of BrunchWith

For many, the magical meal between breakfast and lunch serves as a relaxing session to ease into or out of a rush-free weekend. BrunchWith is a website where conversations are initiated over – what else? – brunch.

On the site, you'll find a collection of intriguing interviews set in different global metropolises – from San Francisco and New York to Hong Kong and Shanghai – with a wide-ranging variety of creative minds such as independent artists, chefs, fashion editors and entrepreneurs. Inevitably, food is a key subject. As BrunchWith's founders believe, "We are naturally connected through food."

"If New York were to be a food, what would that be?" The city's premier truffle dealer, Ian Purkayastha, describes it as "$1 pizza slices". However, for musician and native New Yorker Lenny Kaye, the answer is very specific: "A corned sandwich on rye bread, Russian dressing and coleslaw from Hudson Street, with chocolate and cream to drink."

During a brief stay in New York City, Chinese artist Song Dong recalled his food experience – in 1986 as a student, he went to sketch in the countryside of Shaanxi Province, where he was treated to the only steamed buns in a farmer's family because he was a guest from Beijing. It's not about the food, but the experience, he thinks. Speaking of what kind of food Beijing would be, he replies: "Hotpot; you can put anything you want in it, make your own dipping sauce." The help-yourself type of dining reminds him of the early 1990s, when artists had to rely on themselves as support was rarely given by friends, family or the government.

A good meal certainly helps open the dialogue. So if you could choose anyone, who would you want to have brunch with?