Alain Ducasse has opened a restaurant in AlUla, an area that some Saudi clerics believe to be cursed.Photo illustration by Christoph NiemannLast year, I started hearing tales of strange gastronomic happenings in Saudi Arabia—a country that was closed to leisure tourists until less than a decade ago, and that has recently sought to change its reputation as a repressive autocracy. In a desert oasis in the northwest, the multi-Michelin-award-winning chef Alain Ducasse had appeared like a mirage, with a pop-up restaurant where the menu contained pâté en croûte and camel. The British chef Jason Atherton also had a place: a luxurious restaurant in the “world’s largest mirrored building,” all but invisible against the sandstone and the desert sky.Much has been written about Saudi Arabia’s troubled gigaprojects. As part of the kingdom’s masterplan to diversify its economy beyond oil, the country began preparations to host the Asian Winter Games and to construct a hundred-and-seventy-kilometre-long, two-hundred-metre-wide megacity called the Line. The kingdom has also embarked on another less grand but equally tricky project: to build, more or less from scratch, an entire fine-dining scene.Several months ago, I visited Saudi Arabia to see—and taste—the early results of the kingdom’s culinary experiment. I found an uncertain industry into which battalions of foreigners had been drafted, including members of the French gastronomic élite. I had many meals—excellent and dismal—at the kingdom’s new wave of high-end restaurants. I met with Saudis who spoke excitedly of the transformation of the food scene in just a few years, including one of Riyadh’s OG influencers, who took me to a trippy new burger joint where, while my companion filmed a little content for his TikTok, we had deep-fried mac and cheese.On the last night of my trip, I attended Saudi Arabia’s first-ever Michelin Guide awards—a ritzy if awkward ceremony of plentiful canapés and at least one cocktail-related gaffe—to see if the kingdom would get, perhaps, its very first Michelin star.Illustration by George WylesolHow much of today’s societal collapse and atomization can be attributed to the blatant disregard for shame? For the next few weeks, Jay Caspian Kang is considering the question. Today, he starts with the matter of tanking in professional basketball. Read or listen to the story »More Top StoriesIn a new short-story collection, Danny McBride, whose signature onscreen characters are at once chest-thumping buffoons and insecure wimps, examines the experiences of men facing humiliation. The A.I. company Anthropic is trying to “destructively scan all the books in the world.” Is that as alarming as it sounds? Lonnie G. Bunch III is stepping down as the head of the Smithsonian Institution, as the organization is facing strong criticism from the Trump Administration. In 2024, he spoke to The New Yorker about how he saw his role as the first historian to lead the “nation’s attic.” The most-clicked item in this weekend’s newsletters was a deep dive into how the Hermès luxury brand is exploring its risqué side—with photographs by Jet Swan.