Wednesday, August 20

Karan and sharin’: Designer—and yogi!—Donna Karan helps Hamptonites achieve some inner peace at a “Well-Being” event with her Urban Zen Foundation, at the Ross School in East Hampton (best known for educating the poor mortified spawn of recent divorcée Christie Brinkley). Meanwhile, is it possible that the Americanest food of all is … Chinese? (Somebody get Obama a reservation at Philippe!) So says New York Times writer Jennifer 8. Lee in her newish book, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food (“sprinkled with engaging and poignant stories!” raved our epicurean Managing Editor). Today she pops up at James Beard House for a little lecture. “Americans don’t like to be reminded that their food ever swam, or walked, or flew,” Ms. Lee told Special Fifteen-Day Week Correspondent Sam Jewler. “So you don’t want anything with eyeballs—no feet, no tongue, no stomach.” Can you blame us?

[Ross School, 18 Goodfried Drive, East Hampton, 2 p.m., www.ross.org/news; James Beard House, 167 West 12 Street, 12 p.m., 212-255-8455]

mbryan@observer.com